Professional Documents
Culture Documents
New Democracy, August 2015
New Democracy, August 2015
August, 2015
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advance of Islamic State in Iraq. Indian Govt. which, as noted above, had
toed US line on Iran, suddenly finds itself faced with a new situation when
sanctions against Iran are going to be lifted. Indian Govt. which had spurned
Iranian offer of gas and oil supplies at concessional rates, now faces the
prospect of having to buy them at international prices and commercial terms.
These developments are only a demonstration of the rise of multipolar
world where US, despite being economically and militarily the most powerful
imperialist country, is not able to decide the question of war and peace
around the world. These developments also demonstrate that relationship
between US Admn. and Indian Govt. is a relationship among unequals. It
is a relationship between an imperialist patron and a third world client, it is
a relationship of subservience with Indian rulers serving the interests of
US imperialism. Whatever Indian ruling leaders pretend, US Admn. tries to
use India for its strategic purposes and does not think twice about sidelining
them when their interests demand.
These developments signaled Indias isolation from its western
neighbours. More significantly it signaled Indias isolation from Central Asia
and the Caspian rim region about which much was being talked in India. It
was in this situation that Mr. Narendra Modi travelled to Ufa near Moscow
for SCO summit. Modi Govt. approached Pakistan Govt. for a meeting
between the Prime Ministers of the two countries during SCO summit. On
Indian Govt.s request such a meeting was held. In the meeting between
Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharief, the two Prime Ministers issued a joint
statement in which, among other things, they agreed, that India and
Pakistan have a collective responsibility to ensure peace and promote
development. To do so, they are prepared to discuss all outstanding issues.
With this statement it was hoped that bilateral discussion between India
and Pakistan would be resumed since they had got stalled after Narendra
Modi Govt. cancelled Foreign Secretary level talks in 2014. However, such
expectations were short lived. Bilateral discussions between National
Security Advisors (NSAs) of the two countries was cancelled. Again the
Indian Govt. made the issue of discussion between representatives of
Pakistan Govt. and leaders of Hurriyat Conference the excuse for cancelling
the talks. Though such discussions have been routinely held for over two
decades including six years of rule of Vajpayee led NDA Govt., Modi Govt.
has made its absence a condition for holding bilateral discussions with
Pakistan. This is in line with the much propagated make believe "strong"
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Intensification of Attack
on Working Class Rights
by Comprador Rulers
August, 2015
Aparna
Carrying forward pro-imperialist pro big business policies with a
vengeance, Modi Govt. is going all out to push through several types of
anti worker changes in the labour laws themselves. These, of course, are
part and parcel of the anti worker policies pushed through more thoroughly
in the years of globalization, starting from 1990. The theory advanced was
that labour flexibility would allow flourishing of industry which was
handcuffed by labour laws, by inspector raj and the need to bribe govt.
officials to get around all this. In reality, the labour law implementaton
machinery was servile to industry unless its hand was forced by working
class struggles of whatever nature. The real motive was and is to extract
maximum profits and super profits with minimum expenditure on wages.
The current assault on labour laws encompasses a wide variety of
attacks. Large sections of workers will be taken out from under the umbrella
of labour laws. In the name of simplification, the laws themselves are
being changed and protection to workers being removed or modified. Thirdly,
amendments are being introduced to certain labour laws to bring about anti
worker changes. It is a broad based assault of breathtaking width. In addition
are a host of other policies which are removing support systems of the
poor including working class, like dismantling of PDS, privtatization of
effective health and education facilities and the rising burden of prices.
Modis policies of make in India chiefly held out the promise of low
labour costs and open right to loot natural resources. As it is policies allow
almost full repatriation of profits. Tax on corporate has been reduced in the
Budget, the PPP mode will see Govt. play the major role and absorb risks,
enhancing private profit and social deficit. Loans advanced to big business
by state banks are written off as bad debts without serious attempts at
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recovery. The whole strategy is to get FDI in any and every sector to show
'growth' in the statistical arena while the people are impoverished.
wageless workers, India was made polio free. This was an improvement
over anganwadis, midday meal workers etc. who were at least not termed
voluntary.
That all these steps for labour flexibility have yet not had the effect of
flourishing of industry despite the large measure of success in attacking
workers rights is somehow not highlighted at all in discussions on this
issue. Rather, if there is any talk, the portrayal is that lack of any flourishing
of industry is due to not enough having been done.
There is a severe sense of dissatisfaction in the working class in general.
In particular, there have been outbursts of anger against specific
exploitations but the major trade unions refrained from generalizing these
particulars and knitting all the separate fights into a fightback against these
policies. Actions in this regard were sporadic, sectoral. This is due to
preponderance of reformist and reactionary trade union centres and the far
weaker revolutionary and militant centres who are simply not doing enough.
It also stems partially from the gradually altering composition of working
class over the past quarter century (25 years since 1990). There has been
failure to organize the emerging sections who are potentially much more
prone to struggles as they are second class in terms of rights.
In fact over the past 25 years, working class has altered in composition
gradually over the period and now stands dramatically changed. As far as
permanency of jobs is concerned it is largely casual, contractual or
temporary or composed of continual apprentices. As far as sectors are
concerned, the service sector has expanded enormously in the private
sector. IT sector has emerged, as also other categories of professional
workers have gained in numbers like chemists in the expanding pharma
industry. Construction industry has now become a flourishing sector with
the rise of real estate and this in India has a numerically rising work force.
This is found working in large projects of both govt. and private nature
apart from a liberal number of self employed. Thus today, the regular
industrial worker who was the mainstay of trade union movements has
been squeezed by expanding sections of unorganized sector, mostly
unskilled and irregular on the one hand and by professional workers on the
other. Better mechanization has also diluted their role.
Today, the number of workers in India are estimated in 2012 at 487
million including agricultural labour (NSSO Report 2010 was 465 million).
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against retrenchments and lockouts in units employing 100 or above workers
(chapter VB).Now this provision will apply only where 300 or more workers
are employed. The enforcement mechanism of Minimum Wages will be
formally over, and facilitators will replace inspectors. In deciding minimum
wage many extra items will be included like 'cost of living allowance' and
'cash value of concessions in respect of supply of essntial commodities'
(Section 7 of Code). The amount charged as 'challan' for non payment of
minimum wage has not been raised. Anyway by changes in rules, the
checking mechanism for violation of labour laws by law enforcement
machinery is virtually over. However the demand of the working class, that
minimum wages be enforced strictly for all workers, is wholly attacked,
forget about it being met. But now Modi has changed his language. All
these changes being pushed through, he said around the recent Indian
Labour Conference, are also for the workers! He said that there is a thin
line between helping industry and helping industrialists and it must be
kept in mind'. Modi Govt. has kept it in mind, but only with every intention
to breach it. The Equal Remuneration Act has been reduced to just one
sentence. The changes in Trade Union Act will restrict the number of
outsiders who can be office bearers when it is common knowledge that
working class is integrated into all India movements in this manner. It also
means that more leaders will be employees of the same management i.e.
open to being harrassed or pressurized. The Bonus Act is reduced to a
third of its original size.
These are the overt attacks. The non implementation of any pro worker
steps and laws are the series of covert assaults. The ever enlarging number
of construction workers are allowed shelters at labour chowks, residence
at place of work, safety equipment, among other provisions in the law, but
none of these are implemented. Jute workers face perennial closures
because the Jute Board which is supposed to purchase the flax does not
do so while jute farmers burn raw material due to lack of purchasers. India
is a jute producer and jute is an environment friendly product. Synthetic
fibres marketed by Ambani are not. There is no strict enforcement for
packaging of materials in Govt. departments in jute bags. In coal sector,
coal blocks are being handed over for commercial use, allowing loot of our
natural resources and attacking the wage of coal workers.
In the Electricity sector a privatization spree is on throughout the country.
On the one hand, gradually power distribution has been privatized in state
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11
1001947
2008-9
1377610
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DLC in Delhi, when confronted with the fifth death in industrial accidents in
an area, blurted out to the trade union leaders, Just dont worry. Put the
application under Workmen Compensation Act and I will clear it in one
day. So that is all that a workers life is worth! The situation demands that
all these deaths be treated as murder, and examined under appropriate
sections.
13
Conclusion
The entire NEP period has seen a change in composition of the working
class based on irregular and insecure nature of employment. The
predominance of the reactionary and reformist unions among the organized
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working class and the despondence they instilled towards the struggle
against this change by giving only half hearted and symbolic fight against
them, ensured that no serious fight was put up against the NEP attacks on
workers in which was also the offering of VRS, an easier way to be rid of
organized workers than retrenchments. Thus denuded in numbers and
disarmed politically, the organized working class put up virtually little fight
to all the indirect attacks on jobs and rights in which primarily temporary
workers were increased and regular workers allowed to retire. Rather it
was the peasantry- the owners of land- who stalled NEP by giving a serious
challenge to land aquisitions. This phase was inagurated by Kalingnagar
and established as a method by Nandigram.As already described , in the
NEP years the composition of the working class has changed and now
irregular workers predominate. Revolutionary trade unions must rise to the
much more difficult task of organizing these workers and bringing them
into struggles.
Modi's desperate efforts to bring in FDI have got virtually no where- for
whom would there be production in the face of the world wide economic
crisis? Rajan (RBI Governor) talked about 'make for India' but where is the
purchasing power for most of India? FDI can come for looting mineral
resources or for acquiring land-the safest investment. But the peasantry
has put the feasibility of both in question. Now the Modi Govt. is resorting
to manipulating the method of calculating GDP in a bid to show
'development' but he is not going to change the model of 'development'.
The route to expanding India's market is in implementing land reforms,which
the ruling classes will not take. Thus they will move on the path of depressing
labour costs, looking for foreign investment and selling resources. For this
people also will be polarized on communal lines especially by jingoism
and also along caste lines. The working class must be organized by the
revolutionary trade union movement into broad based struggles to play its
role in this situation.
August, 2015
15
Punjab is said to be the grain bowl of India, though some other states
like Madhya Pradesh have now emerged as grain surplus states. Still Punjab
is the main contributor to the central grain pool followed by Haryana. Punjab
is the first state where an imperialist model was put into practice in
agriculture, namely green revolution. This development has considerably
impacted the production system and structure in Punjab. It has generated
a sharp debate about the mode of production in the agricultural sector of
Punjab. A general impression is that agriculture in Punjab has been
transformed into capitalist mode of production. Consequently, the
impression is that land question is completely solved in Punjab, land has
been distributed to the actual tillers, hence there is no scope of land struggle
in this cradle of green revolution. Though they may not say this so openly
but deep in their understanding most of the revolutionary communist
organizations hold this belief. Some have even come out openly to declare
that agriculture in Punjab is capitalist and trying to find land question in
Punjab is subjective madness. In this context land struggles were missing
from the demography of struggles in Punjab. But of late some land struggles
have come up and attracted the attention of people in the state. These
struggles are sparsely spread from Gurdaspur district in northern Punjab to
the Sangrur Patiala districts in southern Punjab. How to look at these
struggles and how to evaluate them? What is their place in the profile of
peoples struggles in Punjab? But before going into these questions, let us
take a birds eye view of the historical background of this question.
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After the death of the tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh, Banda Bahadur
an ardent follower of the guru, took up the reins of the fight against the
Mughal rulers. At that time there were two provinces covering the present
Punjab area. One was Suba Sirhind and the second was Lahore. Wajid
Khan, the subedar of Sirhind, was most repressive and brutal. Hence he
was the prime target of Banda Bahadur. Banda Bahadur invaded Sirhind.
He established Sikh rule and distributed the lands of feudal landlords among
the peasants. Thus he became the torch bearer of democratic revolution in
this region. With the passage of time and the weakening of the Mughal
empire a strata emerged as feudal landlords from among the Sikhs and
became the enemy of Banda Bahadur apart from the Mughal feudals. Though
the rule of Banda could not sustain for long but this was the first big blow to
feudalism in southeast Punjab.
During British period the land rent was very high and method of collection
very repressive. This forced the peasantry into indebtedness. In this
situation a militant peasant movement arose under the leadership of Sardar
Ajit Singh, the uncle of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. This struggle was directed
at the abrogation of debt and against moneylenders confiscating peasant
land, against the repressive land rent and demanding reduction in land
rent.
Another important struggle fought during the British period was under
the leadership of Kisan Sabha on the question of land rent i.e. share of
produce. In Western Punjab, now part of Pakistan, in those days landlords
used to take the whole produce to their homes and give a share of it to the
peasants. This share was not fixed strictly so landlords could manipulate
the peasant share as well as the total volume of produce, leaving peasants
struggling with hunger and poverty. So, the Kisan Sabha led by ex Gaddar
party veterans organized peasants and launched a movement. The central
slogan of this movement was adho-adh vatt te meaning half-half share in
the produce and to be given in the field itself. Peasants refused to pay the
rent and took the produce. Thousands of peasants were arrested and put
behind the bars. However, important victories were achieved.
The most important anti feudal struggle in Punjab was in the eastern
states of Punjab, popularly known as the PEPSU tenants movement. The
struggle was mainly in the state of Patiala, but not confined to it. This
movement was under the leadership of the Red Communist Party, a
breakaway from the Communist Party of India and was led by veteran
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irrigation around the year. Though the large canal network remained in
Pakistan and a small section of it is in Indian Punjab, but it had a very
large source of underground water as it had a shallow aquifer with quite a
large amount of fresh and sweet water, which could be easily pumped out.
These factors were instrumental in making Punjab the first region of so
called green revolution. It must be very clear that the aim was not primarily
for meeting the food requirements of Indian people or to develop the
agriculture here but imperialists' need of a vast market for their chemical
industry, which was facing a demand crisis in post second world war period.
Though green Revolution was an imperialist venture and was intended
to fulfill their interests but it certainly brought some changes in the agrarian
scenario of Punjab. These are few important changes. One, irrigation with
ground water expanded sharply, tubewells energized with electricity and
diesel spurted on an unprecedented scale. Machinery was employed on a
big scale. Those who were unable to afford it started hiring from rich
peasants and landlords. Thus mechanized methods came into use in
agriculture. Secondly, production of commercial crops took the place of
traditional crops. Paddy, which was never an important crop, became the
main crop of one season. As wheat and paddy were the two crops whose
minimum support price was not only fixed but also adhered to, so mono
culture agriculture which was going to have serious consequences for biodiversity in the future began. This also led to expansion of market. Thirdly,
it resulted in the inward migration of labour from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
creating glut in the labour market and reduction of wages and large part of
local labour taking to sundry jobs leading to proliferation of unorganized
sector.
There are changes in agriculture but the issue is how to asses these
changes? Mostly people run to the conclusion that agriculture in Punjab
has transformed into capitalist agriculture, including some of those who
consider India to be a semi feudal, semi colonial country. But these friends
fail to grasp some simple facts. Firstly in a semi colonial country
developments cannot be understood properly in isolation from imperialism
which transforms the agrarian system for its needs, not for development
of productive forces and changing of production relations, irrespective of
the objective conditions there. That is why it has led the agrarian sector
into the web of unsolvable crisis with indebted peasantry, irreparable damage
to the soil , very serious crisis of ground water, badly poisoned environment
leading to epidemic scale of cancer, hepatitis and many other diseases,
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results be achieved, the line of individual annihilation came and line of
land struggle was abandoned. This line of individual annihilation was rectified
and mass line was adopted but it took quite a long time to pick up the
thread of land struggle.
In the late seventies, struggle developed against the efforts by some
ex-officers and bureaucrats to dispossess the peasants who cultivated
the barren land for years together in the area of Beas river mand. Struggle
succeeded and ultimately peasants got ownership rights in Kapurthala
district. That was the only struggle.
After the All India party congress in 2004 land struggles started coming
up. One such struggle came up in Talwandi Sipahi Mal village of Amritsar
district where people fought against the land mafia which was trying to
capture the land of panchayat. Similarly,in Nrot Jaimal Singh block of
Gurdaspur district, in many villages many leaders of ruling Akali party,
including a minister, Sucha Singh Langah, were trying to dispossess the
tenants from government land which they had been tilling for more than
fifty years. People resisted these efforts, fought back and are tilling it till
date. Such struggles were fought in village Jasraoor and some other villages
of Amritsar district. Most important was the struggle in village Khanna
Chamara of Gurdaspur district. This whole village is of tenants, tilling the
land of gurdwara Teja vila under SGPC i.e. Shiromani Parbandhak
Committee. SGPC was trying to dispossess them from these 650 acres of
land as an influential Akali leader Nirmal Singh Kahlon, speaker of Vidhan
Sabha, wanted to occupy it. SGPC at the behest of Mr. Kahlon, took a
large number of its goonda force (named task force), raided the village and
started ploughing the land with tractors. When villagers in large number
came out and resisted, the task force members fired at the people. Two
peasants were killed and many were injured, but goondas of SGPC were
forced to retreat. This struggle of village Khanna Chamara brought the
land question to the fore.
Long back government gave nazul land to the co operative societies
of dalits in those villages where there was a minimum of ten acres of such
land. But in reality, in most of the villages this is under the cultivation of
landlords, rich peasants and other influential people. Struggle for recapture
of such nazul society land came up in village Sekha in Barnala district.
Inspired by the success of struggle people from more villages approached
our comrades. 16,423 acres of land in 65 villages of old Sangrur district
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Fourth one is the Govt. land marked as forest but being cultivated by
peasants and endowment land also being tilled by tenant peasants. This
forest land is in kandi area, along with Shivalik hills, along the international
border in Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Taran Taran districts. Apart from these
are some areas on riversides in the mand of Satluj, Beas and Ravi.
Endowment land is quite wide spread in Punjab. SGPC, the body managing
the historic Sikh Gurudwaras, controls vast tracts of land in various districts
in Punjab. Land of Mandirs is in the ownership of priests called mahants.
For example there is a temple in village Pandori Mahanta which is the
owner of land in 22 villages. Few years back the mahant tried to evict the
tenants by force. KKU and Kisan Sabha jointly led the tenants to resist the
eviction efforts. Goondas of the mahant had to beat a retreat but the matter
went into litigation and is still pending in the court. Similarly, there are
many Deras which own land and have fairly big holdings though some of
them cultivate with their followers working on it and some of them give it
on lease to tenants.
Land question is in these four forms. In the first phase we are fighting
for Dalits share of panchayat land and demanding the reservation of rest
of panchayat land for poor peasants and against the eviction of tenants.
Then we will fight for the distribution of panchayat land to the Dalits and
poor peasants and for ownership rights for the tenants on govt. land. With
the development of the movement we can move on to capturing surplus
land held by landlords and rich peasants. Though we will continually demand
the lowering of ceiling and distribution of the surplus land but will not move
on to direct action for the time being. Issue of capturing of endowment land
will come at the last and very late, though we will continue to fight against
the efforts at eviction of tenants.
The issue of land is the basic issue of new democratic revolution and is
to be taken only that way but that does not mean that this is the only
issue. There are many other important issues of agrarian struggle such as
wages, MGNREGA, social security, homestead, reduction of input cost of
agriculture and remunerative prices for the agricultural produce, cancellation
of debts and specific issues of small peasantry and many others. Only
then can we advance the agrarian movement and thus advance the
revolutionary movement.
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Greece : Surrender by
Syriza Leadership
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the will of the people.
For the European powers, particularly Germany, holding a referendum
on creditors terms was an effrontery which could not go unpunished. The
imperialist rulers of Europe aborted the first attempt at holding a referendum
on creditors terms by the then ruling PASOK Prime Minister in 2011 forcing
him to resign and rescind the decision. They ensured that the second
attempt at holding the referendum by Syriza Govt. on July 5, 2015 was a
still birth and the result of the referendum was declared to be of no
consequence. According to the bosses of the troika, people of Greece had
no right to decide their economic policies. As the German Finance Minister
had famously remarked on the coming to power of Syriza in Greece,
elections changed nothing. The debtor had to follow the dictates of the
creditors. He was also of the opinion that there was no point in holding
elections in indebted countries, except that not doing so was not feasible.
European powers punished Greece for the effrontery of a no vote. They
imposed on Greece terms which were even harsher than those rejected by
the people of Greece in the referendum. The terms include increase in
rates of VAT, reduction in pensions and plans that ensure immediate
spending cuts in the event of breaching creditor-mandated budget cuts.
Specifically Greece would have to increase VAT rates- the top rate of 23%
is to extend to processed food, restaurants etc., 13% to cover fresh food,
energy bills, water and hotel stays, 6% for medicines and books. Further,
VAT discount of 30% is to be abolished on islands. Corporation tax is to be
raised from 26 to 29% for small companies. Farmers tax is to be raised
from 13 to 26%. Greece would have to cut expenditure on pensions. Further
early retirement is to end and retirement age be raised to 67yrs. Not only
these measures, Greece has agreed to sell off state assets worth Euro 50
billion, with the proceeds earmarked for a trust fund supervised by its
creditors. Half the fund will be used to recapitalize Greek banks, while the
remaining Euro 25 billion will pay down the debts.
Obviously these terms are harsher than the ones rejected by Greeks in
July 5 referendum. These have been described as harsher than the terms
of Versailles treaty and going beyond harshness into pure vindictiveness,
(leading to the) complete destruction of national sovereignty (with) no sign
of relief. These have exposed the true nature of European Union as a
project of big capital of Europe. They have also exposed the rapacious
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classes chastising the workers and struggling people for daring to wage
struggle, terming all such struggles as adventurist and anarchist. In fact
it is possible to have some joint action with revisionists only when the
struggle is in low ebb for when the struggles advance the revisionists side
openly with ruling classes thereby finishing off all possibilities of joint
struggles. After all, one does not embrace revisionism to make revolution.
In fact signs of impending betrayal could be discerned even during Syriza
rule. No measures were planned for the case that troika may not accept
the demands of the people of Greece. Over 40 billion Euros were allowed
to flow out of Greece from April to June 2015, playing havoc with the
financial system of Greece. These were pointers that Syriza leadership
was planning to ultimately surrender before the troika after putting up some
'fight' to hoodwink the people of Greece.
For some time, it has been clear that people of Greece face a stark
choice of either submitting to the European powers or taking steps towards
reorganizing their economy. It was a choice long ago articulated by Rosa
Luxembourg as barbarism or socialism. It is not enough to reject austerity
but to embark on the path of reorganizing the economy on socialist lines.
For this working class has to clearly comprehend the nature of impending
struggle and be prepared for this struggle. It is not enough to score electoral
victory, but to prepare the working class and toiling masses to be ready to
combat and subdue the resistance of exploiting classes. Different struggles
should prepare the working class for this decisive battle. Despite wide
support of the working class and toiling masses, it is this aspect which is
lacking in Greece. Only revolutionary communists could prepare the working
class for this decisive battle and they were weak. However, this widespread
struggle would have offered them ample opportunities to prepare the working
class and toiling masses for this battle. Night long street battles in capital
Athens and other cities, and total strike by the employees, were a reminder
that people of Greece have not acquiesced in this betrayal by Syriza
leadership. Nor would the recent bail out (of Euro 86 billion) help recovery
of Greek economy.
The capitulation by dominant Syriza leadership has split Syriza, with
44 MPS either voting against or abstaining in the bailout vote in the
Parliament of Greece. A majority of them have set up a new party. Tsipras
Govt. has been reduced to a minority Govt. Syriza has become third
August, 2015
27
CPI(ML) Organs
New Democracy
Pratirodh Ka Swar
Voice of New Democracy
Biplabi Ganaline
Inquilabi Sada Rah
Lok Yudh
Sangrami Ekta
28
English
Hindi
Telugu
(Telengana)
Bengali
Punjabi
Marathi
Oriya
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Convention on Release of
Political Prisoners
In West Bengal, after the sentencing for life of six leaders of Lalgarh
movement, the movement for unconditional release of all political prisoners
has intensified. Out of the six, Com. Chhatradhar Mahato, Com. Sagen
Murmu, Com. Sukhshanti Baske and Com. Shambhu Soren were convicted
under UAPA while Com Raja Sorkhel and Com. Prasun Chatterjee were
convicted on charge of waging war against the State. All of them were
arrested during Left' Front rule and were convicted on 12th May this year
by Midnapore district judge Kaberi Biswas. The conviction and sentence
have been condemned by progressive, democratic and revolutionary
organizations and by struggling masses.
West Bengal State Committee of CPI(ML)-New Democracy took
initiative to conduct joint campaign with different communist revolutionary
and other organizations for release of political prisoners including Lalgarh
leaders. A day long dharna was held on 27th May in front of renowned
Coffee House at College Street in Kolkata. Three main demands were raised
- immediate unconditional release of all political leaders including Lalgarh
leaders Chhatradhar Mahato and others, repeal of UAPA and other black
laws and stopping attack on democracy in West Bengal. Those who
addressed the dharna were Ashish Das Gupta of CPI(ML)- New Democracy,
Manab Biswas of Shramik Sangram Committee, Tapan Banerjee of CPI(ML)Kanu Sanyal, Partha Ghosh of CPI(ML)-Liberation, Santosh Rana of PCC,
CPI(ML), Pradeep Singh Thakur of CPI(ML)- Red Star and Ajay Bakshi of
MKP.
On the same issue a convention was organized on 15th July by six
organizations at Bharat Sabha Hall Kolkata. Nearly 300 people participated
in this programme. Representatives of six organizations, Sushanta Jha
from CPI(ML) -New Democracy, Avas Munsi from MKP, Sarmistha
Chowdhuri from CPI(ML)-Red Star, Sumit Sinha from PCC CPI(ML), Sailen
Misra from CPI(ML)-SOC and Ashish Majumdar from CPI(ML)-Kanu Sanyal
were in the Presidium. In the beginning a draft resolution by the organizers
of the convention was placed before the house by Com. Sushanta Jha.
The resolution said that six well known leaders of Lalgarh movement have
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and stoppage of attack on democratic rights in West Bengal.
Different speakers supported the Resolution enriching it. Com. Alok
Mukherjee of CPI(ML) (Kanu Sanyal) narrated the background of Lalgarh
movement and mentioned how Left front Govt. under CPI(M) and their
Harmad forces had unleased a reign of terror on the movement. At that
time police, under the guise of a newspaper correspondent, arrested Com.
Chhatradhar Mahato. Those who stood by Lalgarh movement i.e. Coms.
Sukhshanti Baske, Raja Sorkhel, Prasun Chatterjee and others were also
arrested. On the charge of association with Maoists thousands of people
are facing severe repression. Com. Amrit Paira of MKP said that during
Lalgarh struggle he took an interview of Com. Chhatradhar Mahato and
participated with him in different programmes. He sensed how the sentiment
and emotions of the people were embodied in him and he was a popular
capable leader. Beside UAPA, notorious 124A which was created by colonial
British Govt. was slapped on him. Today it is being noticed that those who
deserted to TMC from the same movement are patriots and who did not
do that are anti-national! In Jhargram area no opposition meeting is being
permitted and protest posters are being torn by the police. Except TMC
nobody is allowed to speak. Com. Pradeep Singh Thakur of CPI(ML) -Red
Star, supporting the Resolution said that the TMC election manifesto did
not promise release of political prisoners but spoke of setting up of a review
committee for identifying those who are lodged in jail only for political
vengeance and not for committing any offence or crime. He also asked to
include withdrawal of joint forces in the demand.
Com. Chandan Pramanik of CPI(ML)-New Democracy said that even
while this Convention is on, the Govt. of Mamata Banerjee is conducting
100th administrative sabha with much fanfare. When TMC leader Mukul
Roy and others, inspite of gobbling money of the people, are freely moving,
Com Chhatradhar Mahato and others are convicted for life as anti national!
About the question raised regarding TMC's election promise on release of
political prisoners he said that in different election meetings and elsewhere,
TMC promised so and an impression was created that if TMC comes to
power it will release political prisoners. The Resolution, for exposure, has
highlighted the hypocrisy and doublefacedness of TMC on the question of
release of political prisoners, he said. He further said that today in West
Bengal TMC terror is there on democratic movements. Even when our
comrades observed Hul Day (day of Santhal rebellion) at Sarenga they
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WINDOW DRESSING IN
STATE MANAGEMENT
lost their jobs and are unemployed for over six months and living without
any form of insurance benefits are handing over children to orphanages
only for food and shelter!
II
Dr. N. BHATTACHARYA
Since 1991, the vast majority of Indian citizens are being used as
guinea pigs by multinational corporations to satisfy their ever expanding
greed plus hunger to accumulate more and more wealth. Almost all the
Govts., both at the Centre and in the states are repeatedly blamed for
helping criminals in organizing scams in every sphere of social and
economic activities since liberalisation, privatisation and globalization' or
LPG policies were initiated on orders from World Bank and International
Monetary Fund (IMF).
Indian Govt. welcomed World Bank and IMF to dictate its economic
policies. India has the second largest human resources in the world and
huge natural resources in hills,ocean, land and air. Europeans came and
exploited, or rather looted, our resources and became rich countries. After
Second World War most of these countries lost their position. People of
Greece are openly blaming particularly one partner in European Union
Germany- for not following the rules of the Union of Sovereign States. It
should have strictly followed the rules of trust in business ethics among
union partners. Germany exploited people of Greece and followed one sided
disastrous favourable balance of payment policies. To keep its own
industries running and earning surpluses, Germany as big brother virtually
destroyed not only the economy of Greece but also economies of Italy,
Ireland, Spain and Portugal (IISP). Thus entire Europe including Russia is
in deep water since 2008 depression. It is surprising that though IMF is
headed by a person from France, a member country of European Union,
yet the organization refused to help the people of Greece in this hour of
crisis and rather sided with Germany to crush people of Greece. We in
underdeveloped countries should be careful about these dangerous antipeople organizations that exclusively help the rich and destroy the poor
people. The number of poor and unemployed youth in Europe are increasing
every day and are facing extreme hardship just to survive. Senior citizens
in that part of the developed world are just cursing their luck! Families who
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than previous "Hindu Rate of Growth" of sixties and seventies. This is
explained by figures of growth in Industrial Production in 2014 and 2015 in
Table I and Wholesale and Retail Prices of 2014 and 2015 in Table II.
TABLE I
GROWTH RATE OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION
INDUSTRIAL GROWTH
SECTORAL GROWTH
(PERCENTAGES)
(PERCENTAGES)
APRIL 2014
APRIL 2015
MINING
1.7
0.6
MAY
5.6
FEB
5.0
MANUFACTURING 3.0
5.1
JUNE
4.3
MAR
2.1
ELECTRICITY
JULY
0.9 APRIL
AUG
0.5
SEPT
2.6
OCT
-2.7
NOV
5.2
DEC
3.2
11.9
-0.5
4.1
35
2015
CPI
WPI
CPI
WPI
JAN
8.79
5.11
5.11
-0.95
Feb.
8.1
5.03
5.37
-2.17
March
8.31
6.0
5.17
-2.33
April
8.39
5.5
4.87
-2.43
May
8.28
6.18
5.01
-2.36
June
7.31
5.66
5.4
-2.4
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III
73
TAMIL NADU
73
J&K
22
KERALA
72
ODISHA
54
HIMACHAL
22
W.BENGAL
70
MAHARASTRA
53
PUNJAB
65
CHHATISGARH
47
BIHAR
65
KARNATAKA
47
MP
55
UP
45
GUJARAT
55
RAJASTHAN
38
ALL INDIA
56
any land of their own and if they have to cultivate, land is taken on lease
and in most cases these leases are renewable only at the mercy of land
owners. Another feature of land holding is that most of the land holders are
small and marginal and unless they take land on lease, cultivation is not
viable. How is it expected that our peasants will produce more and more
at economical prices from uneconomical holdings? Therefore, Indian
Agriculture demands more research and innovations and at the same time
more per capita investments have to be made so that purchasing power of
our farmers increases substantially.
The Report of SECC clearly invites the attention of the state to the fact
that the country is playing a disastrous game of continued neglect and
contempt for agricultural sector of 1.2 billion population. 51 percent of rural
HHs are just unorganized labour. Lakhs of men, women and children leave
their homes every year for far away places as soon as sowing season
starts and when they return to their villages after harvesting crops their
only saving per family is either a goat or some chicken. Cash is mostly
taken away by contractors. Rate of wage is very low and middle men exploit
them till today. It means they are not looked on as human beings. We have
all the rules and laws for the benefit of these workers but no one dares to
ask for their implementation.
Farmers Suicide
Poverty stricken Indian peasants are still compelled to commit suicide.
This has reached a humiliating level despite so many reports since 1947
on rural poverty and the latest one is by SECC.
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left with no other remedy than to commit suicide as humiliation for non
payment of loans becomes unbearable.
In a recent answer to a question on farmers suicide, the honourable
Agriculture Minister at the Centre was avoiding the issue of the ugly state
of affairs in the villages. They are interested that more peasants should
commit suicide and fertile agricultural land should go to selected families
of this country. It is a well organized racket in which powerful merchants
are involved. One may ask Honourable Minister why incidence of death of
peasants are more in richer states than in poorer states. Maharashtra wants
Mumbai to be made Shanghai of India, but no attempt is made to improve
the lot of peasants in Vidarbha. In the same manner Tamilnadu must be
ashamed of peasants deaths due to suicide.
To conclude, Mr. Modi has utterly failed to frame policies to provide
roti, kapra aur makan (food,clothing and shelter) to three-fourth of Indians
who are waiting for all these years since 1947. Blame game looks beautiful
in Media but the patience of the vast majority of our people is not endless.
It is a fact that we have a very strong military establishment, it can be
used in North-East, J&K or in Chhattisgarh even, but the families of our
jawans are living in their states with their relatives and friends and they are
suffering from the wilful implementation of anti people policies by both
states and Centre. Policy makers dont bother to read the writing on the
wall. It is high time in a democratic country that the increasing number of
unemployed youth should demand from the state their fundamental right to
live as normal human beings in 21st century!
On exchange of Enclaves
Sushanto Jha
At long last, on 6th June 2015, the India-Bangladesh Land border treaty
was formally approved in the presence of the Prime Ministers of the two
countries. With this the issue of exchange of enclaves between the two
countries was formally settled. The long delay in reaching this settlement
is a matter of severe criticism but on the other hand there is great relief
that it has finally been done. That after so many years Indias ruling class
politicians have come to their senses is a good thing for the people
particularly for the people residing in the enclaves, though how much good
intention and how much political calculation and compulsion of ruling class
parties is there behind this change in attitude will be clear only in the
future. The record of these parties on this score is not very clean and that
is the reason for the problem having lingered for so many years.
The enclaves have been in existence for a long time but the problem
with them became acute only after so called independence of India,
particularly after partition of India and with the princely states joining either
India or Pakistan. Before the 6th June treaty, what were being called
enclaves were areas within one country which were actually part of the
other country and vice versa; like some areas inside India which were
owned by Bangladesh (earlier East Pakistan) and vice-versa. After the
treaty the enclaves were exchanged by which India-owned enclaves inside
Bangladesh went to Bangladesh and Bangladesh-owned enclaves inside
India went to India.
During the British period these areas were not under direct British rule
but were under the princely states of Cooch Behar and Rangpur which had
relationships of special dependence with the British Govt. For years, the
King of Cooch Behar owned some areas inside the boundary of Rangpur
and similarly the Rangpur Maharaja owned some areas inside boundary of
Cooch Behar. In those days being in the area of one king within the area of
another king created almost no additional problem for the residents of these
areas if the kings were not mutually hostile. There was no complexity of
passport, visa, voting rights, receiving of benefit of govt. projects as citizens
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of that country etc. and people were more or less content in the self
sufficient village life. But the problem began after Independence with
partition of the country between India and Pakistan. Princely states were
left to choose. Maharaja of Rangpur joined Pakistan along with the enclaves
under his possession while the King of Cooch Behar joined India along
with the enclaves under his possession. Thus Pakistan had enclaves
situated mainly in the present Cooch Behar district of West Bengal and
India had enclaves in different districts of present Bangladesh which was
at that time Pakistan. After the formation of Bangladesh from the eastern
part of Pakistan, Pakistani enclaves became enclaves of Bangladesh. In
this manner the enclave problem is related to Partition where people had
no rights and politicians and some kings had the say in partitioning of the
country and in deciding which country to belong to.
Due to this the situation for people in the enclaves became such that
their area was surrounded by another country whose citizens they were
not and which was not liable to arrange basic amenities for them like drinking
water, food, shelter, road and communications, electricity, education,
health, employment etc. Their children could not get admitted to the schools
and colleges or be treated in the hospitals of the other country. Their own
country did not provide any facilities to them. They had no citizen
certificate, no ration card, no voter card or voting rights. Even census was
not carried out in their areas. Thus they were nowhere people with no formal
legal rights and no basic amenities as citizens. They would not get any
help from surrounding police or administrative centres even for protection
of their personal property, right or security. Even if they succeeded in
registering their complaint at the distant administrative centre of their own
country they would get practically no response from them on the pretext of
distance, diplomatic complexity etc. In this situation they spent horrible
lives with the fear that neighbouring anti socials or powerful persons would
attack, beat or kill them on any pretext, grab their properties and molest
their women folk. Many were forced to leave their enclave. But due to the
absence of legal papers they faced uncertainties everywhere.
It is expected that with the treaty on exchange of enclaves the
uncertainty prevailing over the lives of enclave dwellers will be ended. The
treaty on exchange of enclaves is not a separate treaty but part of a greater
treaty on land boundary between India and Bangladesh. Within the treaty
there are mainly three components - agreement on enclaves, agreement
on the areas of adverse possession and agreement on demarcation of
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enclave areas Bangladesh would get 17,160 acres i.e. 6,940 hectares
(nearly 70 sq km) and India would get 7,110 acres i.e. 2880 hectares (nearly
28 sq km). According to the joint census of 14-17th July 2011 by India and
Bangladesh the total population of all the enclaves was 51,549. Out of
these in Indian enclaves inside Bangladesh population was 37,334 and
population in Bangladeshi enclaves inside India was 14,215. So it is
expected that with the realization of 6th June treaty more than 50 thousand
people will get some respite from their horrible enclave life. It was agreed
that they can retain their land by taking citizenship of the country where
the enclave is being transferred. They can also choose to go to their earlier
country. In this case they will be rehabilitated by that country and will be
entitled to get some time for sale or transfer of their land and property in
the earlier enclave.
According to the treaty the materialization of exchange of enclaves
was to be done on 31st July 2015 midnight. Before that it was agreed to
jointly carry out head counts in the enclaves and explain to the enclave
people the contents of the treaty, giving them the option of remaining on
their land or going to their earlier country as per the treaty. Some time
frame was to be fixed for completing this process. Those who will stay in
their earlier places will face the immediate problems of obtaining ration
card, voter identity card, citizen card and of legally recording their land
and properties, admitting their children to educational institutions, getting
employment, obtaining basic necessities like drinking water, electricity,
road and communication etc. In these they will have to face same difficulties
that the rest of the citizens are already facing. Others who would leave
their land and go to their own country as refugees will face the difficulties
of being properly rehabilitated and obtaining necessary citizens' rights,
selling or transferring their land and properties of earlier places etc. In both
the cases touts, bureaucrats, contractors etc. will fill their pockets with
illegitimate money. So residents of earlier enclaves will face new tasks of
fighting against inhuman extractions, bribery and exploitation and for their
just demands and realization of the promises given to them by the Govt.
Other people should help these enclave people in their fight against
injustice and protect them.
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imprisoned, tribal villages were burnt and women brutally molested. Leaders
and activists were encountered if they were caught. More than 350 such
were killed, including the first two martyrs and Coms. Vempatapu Satyam,
Adibatla Kailasam, Panchadi Krishnamurthy, Nirmala Krishnamurthy,
Ankamma and others upto Arika Somula. Despite this, the struggle (the
Naxalite struggle as it was termed) spread, bringing the land issue onto the
agenda and stressing the importance of agrarian revolution. At the same
time, in the Godavari valley area the tribals and non tribal poor came forward
in struggles under the leadership of communist revolutionaries like Com.
CP, Com. Ramanarasaiah and Com. Neelam Ramchandraiah. The
comprador rulers suppressed the struggles cruelly and severely. They also
tried to distract and divert people by bringing some reforms and welfare
plans and also made a show of implementing some steps.
One reform that the then Congress Govt. of AP brought was the 1/70
Act, which made amendments in the 1917 Act of the British colonial Govt.
and in the 1959 Prevention of Land Transfer Act in the agency areas (i.e.
the forest areas or the scheduled areas). According to this, non tribals
could not purchase land of tribals in such areas. If non tribals in this area
possessed land they had to prove ownership prior to 1970. If non tribals
wished to sell their land in these areas they could only sell to the Govt.
The feudal forces used this provision by manipulating the records to show
they held land prior to 1970. Thus the tribals had only 6,99,000 acres of
land while non tribals held 8,70,000 acres. It is surprising that despite their
fierce struggle, 60% of the land was not with the tribals. The second problem
arose in demarcation of agency area. Villages where a large number of
tribals lived were excluded. The then AP Assembly resolved in 1978 to
include 805 tribal villages and sent the list to the President of India, who in
turn sent it to the Cabinet. Nothing resulted. 456 villages of North AP
districts, mostly of Srikakulam and Vizianagram, were included. In the
new state of AP also, hundreds of tribal villages are not covered under the
agency area.
The ruling class parties have always been ready to weaken the 1/70
Act which affords at least some protection to the tribals. In 1989, the NTR
Govt. tried to amend it against the verdict of the Supreme Court, but this
was bitterly opposed by tribals and by democratic and revolutionary forces.
Later TDP and Congress Govts. which came to power in the state, were
ready to set aside this Act to hand over land, bauxite reserves and other
mineral resources lying under forest land for loot to MNCs. In the scheduled
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and MNCs are also present. Under policies of Globalization, tribal areas
and coastal belts are being handed over to them. Tribals, fisherfolk,
peasants and agricultural labourers have been struggling to protect forests,
land, fishing and natural resources.
The earlier UPA Govt. and the present NDA Govt. at the Centre have
been trying to hand over mineral resources in eastern and central parts of
India to corporate under the veil of development. Operation Greenhunt was
launched against Naxalites with the purpose of grabbing natural resources.
Intellectuals, democrats and progressive forces who questioned these
policies were harassed and even put behind bars.
Different state Govts. are implementing the same policies. In Odisha,
the BJD Govt. killed 14 tribals in Kalingnagar, in Bengal the CPM led Left
Front Govt. killed 18 peasants in Nandigram as they refused to surrender
their land. In AP, fisherman Nukuraju was killed when fisherfolk protested
against Gangavaram port and six peasants were shot dead in Sompeta
and Kakrapalli in Srikakulam Dist. for fighting to save their land.
RSS backed Govt. of Modi is carrying forward the pro imperialist policies,
inviting them to Make in India, promising to amend labour laws. Modi
Govt. is carrying the American palanquin but is also ready to carry the
boots of China and Japan. Only communist revolutionaries are working for
any real change. In the agency areas, when the feudals were cornered by
movements, the state moved in to support them, showing its true class
face. To protect their achievements and themselves people readied
themselves to resist. This was the experience in Godavari Valley, Sirsilla
and Jagtiyal.
In order to face the attacks of comprador capitalists, landlords and
their imperialist masters, we should build a united front of revolutionary
forces and work with revolutionary understanding. We have to develop
peoples initiative in action and build up areas of resistance. We should
follow the revolutionary path. Comrade Mao taught that strengthening the
united front of revolutionary forces, building a strong secret party and a
strong peoples army alone can stop the exploiting classes. We should
recall the sacrifices of the martyrs, take inspiration and walk the path of
struggle. This is the real tribute to them.
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with rain water and filth; there is poor organized infrastructure for small
traders who outnumber big shops by hundreds; there are parking space
problems, public transport shortage; the govt. provided facilities of health
and education are in shambles with unscrupulous private sector sharks
profiting even by cheating; the trees have been cut, the ponds filled up, the
atmosphere is sultry and the air often stinks; the civic authorities are
omnipresent only in extracting bribes for correcting the deliberately
overinflated bills; hardly ever is a fault repaired efficiently; to make a
complaint is often to invite more trouble; etc.
The govt. has propagated this dream of smart city without giving exact
details, which is where actually the devil resides. Those who can afford to
aspire for better facilities, even if it is at higher cost, are charmed, while
the rest are confused. It has not been explicitly stated who will provide the
better facilities and at what cost. But the govt. will not do so, that is certain.
The govt. knows for whom it is building these smart cities and in what
manner it will execute it. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley outlined this in his
budget speech last year. He stated as the fruits of development reach an
increasingly large number of people the pace of migration from the rural
areas to the cities is increasing. A neo middle class is emerging which has
the aspiration of better living standards. Unless new cities are developed
to accommodate the burgeoning number of people, the existing cities would
soon become unlivable. The Prime minister has talked of developing one
hundred Smart Cities as satellite towns of larger cities and by modernizing
the existing mid-sized cities. So basically these cities are for emerging
neo middle class, which of course, is expected to be able to pay since the
fruits of development have already reached it.
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1. Th e co ncept advanced i s d evel opment n ecessi tates
urbanization. Cities are referred to as the engines of economic growth,
the documents say, expecting rapid increase in urban population from 31%
at present to 60 to 65%, because people migrate to cities primarily in
search of livelihood and economic activities. A rapid growth of urban
population will only be at the cost of either erosion of village life or it being
forcefully uprooted. Indias development needs lie in safeguarding and
developing livelihood of the vast peasantry constituting 70% of the
population. This is only possible by giving them land to farm on, making
agriculture a profitable venture, ensuring infrastructure to develop farming
and village life. That is a huge task and it entails several times more
manpower and investment than required for 100 smart cities. It will also
increase peoples income and purchasing capacity and shift the focus of
modernization from few islands called smart cities to an entire countryside
bubbling with advancement and demanding more.
2. What is a smart city? After referring to various international cities
considered smart, it is stated to be one which will offer economic activities
and employment opportunities. For this it needs to develop institutional,
physical and social and economic infrastructures and for that it should
attract investors and professionals to take up such activities. It should
also provide a very high quality of life (comparable with any developed
European City), i.e. good quality but affordable housing, cost efficient
physical infrastructure such as 24x7 water supply, sanitation, 24x7 electric
supply, clean air, quality education, health care, security, entertainment,
sports, robust and high speed interconnectivity, fast and efficient urban
mobility, etc. For this it should be an investor friendly smart city without
bureaucratic hassles and with adequate labour force. Investors
themselves look for decent living.
3. Its Supervisory Structure: Consulting firms will prepare the Smart
City Plan for competing in the Smart City challenge, after consulting citizens,
Residents Welfare Associations, Tax Payers Associations, Senior Citizens
and Slum Dwellers Associations. The claims of these cities to qualify will
be evaluated by a panel of national and international experts, organizations
and institutions. Incidentally the Madison square announcement was made
by Mr. Modi after consulting Barack Obama, not the peoples associations.
Each Smart City will have a Special Purpose Vehicle, SPV, for its
implementation. This will be headed by a full time CEO and have nominees
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domestic and external borrowings and dependence thereof and vii shows
that profit making facilities and responsibilities will be handed over to the
private sector, the MNCs and Indian corporate.
It has been stated that the tariffs are to be such that they are affordable
for the poor and yet recovers costs at higher levels of use. Clearly the
plan is to recover the profits from the middle class and give a short shrift
to the poor.
The documents state clearly that innovative methods of raising revenues
will have to be developed by the States and Cities .. The principle of
justifying high tariffs by private service providers is already in place even
now with the concept of independent regulators. As in Delhi the regulator
for electricity tariff was promoting higher profits while the company was
claiming excessive costs and the people were as it is groaning under fast
running metres. It is proposed to have independent regulators for smart
cities also. It is important that in this regulation there is no provision of
peoples participation.
5. It will be a fully Privatized City: So in short we are looking at a
totally privatized city, with no municipal or govt. facility. Samples of this
are available in colonies developed by builders or developers as they are
called now. They already have issues with floor area/ carpet area as per
advertisement, maintenance and overcharging as well as insecurity due to
over domination of established private security structures themselves.
Who will provide all the above good quality services and facilities to
those who cant afford them? There is stress on low cost housing being
especially for the poor. Slums are to be better planned, obviously by the
MNCs, not the govt. The central govt. has stipulated that at least 15% of
the housing should be of the affordable category. Surely these would be
just like the charitable patient care clause being implemented by big
corporate hospitals.
6. Labour Force: There is some emphasis on adequate availability of
required skills in the labour force as a necessary requirement to make it
easy to establish an enterprise and run it efficiently without any
bureaucratic hassles. This is an essential feature of an investment friendly
smart city. In that sense these cities will be even smarter than those in
Europe and USA where even domestic labour has to be paid for at a minimum
rate and will be without hassles of labour laws! A heaven for the rich, and
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to help them monitor their water usage and reduce costs. It says water
supply also requires a proper revenue model based on metering of
connections and volumetric water supply tariff. Already in these services
a smart trend of charging the people through prepaid services has begun.
It is there in tele communication with prepaid SIM cards, in water supply
with promotion of bottled water and now water ATMs and is being promoted
in electricity supply with installation of individual transformers. All are based
on volumetric supply concept. So smart meters in water, electricity and
other services is a system of prepaid charges, fixed charges, fixed timed
charges even if one is unable to use, etc. This smart solution will apply to
telephones, internet, drainage, waste management services.
11. Job Creation: The document claims that each smart city will create
10,000 new jobs per year. Each of these cities will be established after
displacing hundreds of villages where they will destroy thousands of
livelihood in each village. To promote this as 'development', the concept of
a job incubator to be built in each smart city has been introduced. It is
claimed this will be given several incentives and support from the govt.
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new circumstance will become a compulsion.
The project will actually allow urban and rural rich to outsmart the urban
and village poor and peasantry as a whole; the service provider companies
and developers will outsmart their customers and the big companies,
particularly US MNCs and their allies outsmart Indians by erecting white
elephants on our farmlands and rivers, our major sources of livelihood.
CC Statement
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appeals and executed the capital punishment has also been subject of
peoples disquiet and anger. His mercy petitions were dismissed by
Maharashtra Governor and President of India on the same day. Supreme
Court sat the whole night ostensibly to clear the way for his hanging at 7
AM the same day. Even the customary reprieve of 14 days after the disposal
of his last legal recourse before the hanging was not granted to him. It
showed that the Govt. was in a tearing hurry to hang him lest some new
facts may come out to put a spanner in its works. While in Afzal Gurus
case many of these legal rights were given a go-by, in Yaqub Memons
case the motions were gone through reducing them to a farce in the process.
It is the people of the country who should rise against this blatant
discrimination practiced against the minorities, who should recognize and
fight against this ploy to disrupt their unity against attacks on their lives,
land and livelihood, who should realize that these attacks are part and
parcel of the attacks against the Indian people who are groaning under
poverty, destitution, backwardness and reeling under the heavy burden of
price-rise, unemployment and corruption, who are denied even basic human
existence by the ruling dispensation and who should refuse to facilitate
the rulers to annihilate their meagre rights.
August 1, 2015
August, 2015
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The Delhi IFTU Committee sent a team to the Khajuri Khas area of
North East Delhi to investigate alleged communal clashes there after they
received reports of the same from several workers who reside in the area.
In Delhi in the months since Modi Govt came to power, there have been
several such incidents in all of which investigations found that the actual
situation was that Hindutva elements abetted by the local police had
attempted to, or at times actually succeeded in provoking anti muslim
violence. In addition, there have been attacks on churches usually in the
early hours of the morning.
On 1st August 2015 newspapers were full of reports that there were
clashes between two groups in Khajuri Khas area of north east Delhi and
that the Delhi police had acted to restore law and order. IFTU leaders were
also contacted by several workers residing in the kuccha colony of Khajuri
Khas, a poor and working class colony, that the area was communally
disturbed. As this is an area where both Hindus and Muslims reside and
also because of the memory of incidents in Trilokpuri and Seelampur in the
past few months, the Delhi Committee of Indian Federation of Trade Unions
sent a team to investigate the incident. Com Rajesh, Secretary of the
Committee, Com. Jai Prakash Joint Sec. and Com. Raja of West Delhi
IFTU Committee accordingly visited the area on 2nd August 2015. Their
report, released on 3rd August, is reproduced below.
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butchers in the kuchcha colony and also a child. This further added to the
ferment in the crowd. It later turned out that no one was killed and one
child sustained accidental burns in a shop in the kuchcha colony that
morning.
It is only after the burning of the bikes and by when the crowd had
swelled further in number that the police appeared on the scene. The police
then tried to force the crowd to disperse but made no attempt to arrest the
youth who had tried to provoke a communal situation and who melted
away into the crowd, despite there being two burning bikes, and at least
two people having been assaulted. Police also resorted to caning- the
crowd was apparently argumentative and agitated but mostly not organized
and after a while drifted away. Thus it was mostly the good sense of the
people there that prevented the situation from aggravating. Though people
got agitated for a while due to the severe provocation, yet they did not
succumb. People went and calmly picked up their children from school.
However the market shut down and redis closed shop and returned to their
homes. Police then maintained a heavy presence at the chowk.
Police has registered an FIR against unknown persons. The youth
who tried to incite communal violence can be easily identified and are
untouched. Both the burnt bikes were still standing a little away from the
police beat box at the chowk, on the day the IFTU team visited the area.
The rest of the area was normally going about its work; in fact due to the
Sunday bazaar there was more crowd than usual and consisted of all
communities.
Comments
It is absolutely clear that there was an attempt here to use a totally
unrelated incident to provoke communal violence and at least communal
polarization. The pattern resembles the Trilokpuri incident a few months
earlier, wherein a group of youth from majority community marched into
the area unchecked by police, indulging in violence and inciting others.
However here, despite the youth burning bikes of Muslims, the crowd did
not lose its good sense and that is why the situation did not result in mad
violence like it did in Trilokpuri. However this is not for want of trying by
Hindu communal forces. It is known that RSS is active in the pucca Khajuri
colony. Yet such incidents do create communal polarization. The Muslim
families and the Hindu workers have been living peacefully in the kuchcha
August, 2015
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