Monday, August 9, 2010

On DISINVESTMENT OF OIL PSUS

GOVT EXPOSES ITS GAME OF DECEIPT AND DECEPTION

CITU is shocked to note from media reports that while the Govt was highlighting poor financial health of public sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMC) in the Parliament, to justify price hike of Petroleum products, it was simultaneously preparing for sale of 10% Govt shares in Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the major Govt OMC, on the advice of Department of Disinvestment. Similarly on the same day when Director, Finance, IOC talked about IOC’s loss in the 1st quarter of 2010-11, Chairman IOC is quoted as saying “decontrol has improved the investor sentiment” and IOC shares had breached Rs. 400 mark following price reform.

CITU demands that Govt must clarify whether Govt’s plan to sell its shares in IOC is a distress sale when the financial health of IOC is poor or a part of creeping privatization of a financially strong Navratna PSU aspiring to be a Maharatna.

CITU strongly opposes Govt plans for disinvestment of 10% shares in IOC and 5% shares in ONGC to collect Rs. 20,440 crore from Public Sector Oil Companies to manage its revenue deficit. The much repeated claim of the Govt that its financial burden for the so called under recovery compensation to OMCs, which is Rs. 14,000 crore, looks hollow when it is making up the same through sale of shares of Oil PSUs.

CITU demands that Govt must put a halt to its game of deceipt and deception to cover up its revenue mopping exercise at the cost of “Aam Admi” to boost what IOC Chairman calls “Investor Sentiment” and to desist from selling shares of Navratna and Maharatna Oil PSUs, to satisfy the private investors, eyeing for Public Sector OMCs.

Resolution on Forthcoming Elections in W. Bengal & Kerala

(Adopted on August 09, 2010 At the Extended Meeting of the Central Committee)

The states of West Bengal and Kerala alongwith Tripura are the outposts of the Left and democratic movement in the country.  Prolonged political struggles and people’s movements in West Bengal and Kerala led by the Communists, going back to the pre-independence period and during India’s struggle for freedom, have laid strong foundations for the growth and consolidation of the Communist-led Left movements in these states. 

The strong Communist movements in West Bengal and Kerala alongwith Andhra Pradesh and others during the course of the freedom movement itself, had brought on to the agenda of the people’s struggle important issues like land reforms, linguistic reorganization of states, reforms against various expressions of social oppression, the defence of the rights of the working class and the people at large including their civil liberties etc. 

It was on the strength of such powerful movements that the Communist Party won a majority in the Kerala Assembly elections in 1957.  This was the first instance of Communists winning the elections to head a state government in a bourgeois parliamentary system anywhere in the world.  The pioneering steps of this government for land reforms; minimum wages and welfare measures for the working people; democratization of the education system; decentralisation of powers etc was naturally not palatable for the ruling classes which led to its dismissal under Article 356 of the Constitution.  Again, when the CPI(M)-led front won the elections in 1967, this government was toppled in 1969. 

In West Bengal, the strength of powerful popular movements led to the formation of United Front governments in 1967 and 1969.  On both occasions, though the CPI(M) was the larger partner of the coalition, CPI(M)  had allowed others to head the government in order to maintain and strengthen the United Front.  The fillip these governments gave to the democratic movement and to the land struggles was, again, intolerable for the ruling classes, that saw their dismissal under Article 356.  The semi-fascist terror unleashed against the Party, with the massive rigging of the 1972 Assembly elections, that lasted till the defeat of Emergency in 1977, was aimed at seeking to decimate the Communist-led popular movements in the state. Over 1,400 comrades were martyred and 22,000 Party families had to be relocated during the successful resistance defeating this semi-fascist terror.  Contrary to the hopes and machinations of the ruling classes, the people of West Bengal had not only  reposed faith in the CPI(M)-led Left Front in the 1977 elections but continued to repose, in an unprecedented manner not found elsewhere in the country, such faith in the seven consecutive elections that followed till date.  

This had been possible because of the unparalleled manner in which the Left Front government tackled the people’s issues.  The implementation of land reforms is one of its most important achievements.  Nearly 1.3 million acres of illegally held land was acquired and distributed among over 3 million landless and marginal cultivator households.  The registration of over 1.5 million bargadars (share croppers) brought 1.1 million acres of land under their control through operation barga.  As of 2007, West Bengal whose population is 8 per cent of the country’s, having only 3.5 per cent of our country’s agricultural land, accounted for 22 per cent of the total ceiling surplus land distributed in the country.  Contrary to all adverse and hostile propaganda that the CPI(M) is against the peasantry,  a further 16,700 acres of land were distributed to landless families between 2007 and 2010.  Agricultural productivity and output have made remarkable strides.  From a chronic rice deficit state, West Bengal today produces the largest quantity of rice.  The Left Front government today supplies rice at Rs. 2 per kilo to 2.64 crore BPL population.  

The financial assistance provided by the Left Front government in West Bengal to the workers of closed factories and tea gardens has now been enhanced to Rs. 1,500.  Likewise, pension for widows, the disabled, old-age, artisans, handloom weavers, farmers and fishermen have now been increased to Rs. 1,000.  17 lakh unorganized sector workers have enrolled in the Provident Fund Scheme.  West Bengal encourages the growth of labour intensive micro, small and medium industries.  The state has the country’s largest number of functioning small-scale units (27 lakhs) and largest number of employment (58 lakhs).

In spite of functioning under the limitations of the Constitution, the Left-led state governments in West Bengal and Kerala have taken measures to reduce poverty, create new welfare measures and improve living conditions. Even the World Bank admits that the record of West Bengal in terms of  poverty reduction is the best amongst all states in India.  The infant mortality rate measured per 1,000 live births in 2006 was 38 in West Bengal and 15 in Kerala which has the best record in the country. The all India rate is 57. As far as life expectancy is concerned, it has improved considerably in West Bengal to 64.5 years for males and 67.2 for females. Kerala has life expectancy of 70.7 for males and 75 for females. The all India average is 61 for males and 62.5 for females. As against the all India average (7.4), the death rate in Kerala is 6.3 and West Bengal is 6.2.  West Bengal has a literacy rate of 72 per cent and Kerala 90.09 per cent. The all-India average is 63.4.  In West Bengal, nearly 100 per cent of all girls and boys of age six are enrolled in schools. In Kerala,  98 per cent of eligible boys and girls are in class X, indicating nil or very low dropouts.   It is noteworthy that such achievements are recorded at a time when, due to the pursuit of neo-liberal policies by the ruling classes, the livelihood conditions of the people have deteriorated in large parts of the country.    

The LDF government in Kerala has taken forward its welfare legacy currently having the largest number of welfare schemes amongst all states of India. The pensions to the workers in the unorganized sector have been raised from Rs. 100 to Rs. 300. The women workers of the unorganised sector are being offered four month’s maternity leave. Half the population of the state are being covered by Rs. 2 per kg rice scheme and free health insurance, including for chronic diseases. Besides the PDS, a wide network of fair price shops are set-up where the prices of 13 essential commodities have been maintained at the same level for the last four years. When the half a million houses proposed under the EMS housing scheme are completed, there would be no family  in Kerala without a house. In stark contrast to the Central government’s privatization offensive, the rehabilitation of the sick Public Sector Units has resulted in reversal of annual loss of Rs. 96 crores in 2005-06 to annual profit of 240 crores of rupees in 2009-10. This surplus is being reinvested in the expansion of the existing public sector and the establishment of eight new ones. In the agriculture sector the measures adopted by the state government has been successful in putting an end to the suicides of farmers.

Another major initiative taken by the Left-led governments in both the states has been on the question of decentralization of power and deepening of democracy to the grassroots through the establishment and efficient functioning of democratic institutions of local self governments.  The three tier system of democratically elected bodies established by the Left Front in West Bengal has achieved  successes in a manner that is unprecedented elsewhere in the country.  It was a full seventeen years after this initiative by the Left Front in West Bengal that the panchayati raj system was adopted for the country through the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments.  The system of decentralization in Kerala initiated by the 1957 government was further developed into the People’s Plan that delivered far-reaching benefits to the people.  Both West Bengal and Kerala are in the process of implementing 50 per cent reservation for women.  Both the governments of West Bengal and Kerala have extended the central scheme of Rural Employment Guarantee to the urban poor while the Central government refuses to do so.

The hallmark of the Left-led democratic movements and the governments in both West Bengal and Kerala have been their steadfast defence of secularism and communal harmony.  It is often perceived that the protection of the interests of the minorities is the litmus test of democracy which, otherwise, is de facto majority rule.  The Left Front government in West Bengal has recently decided to implement the recommendations of the Ranganath Mishra Commission Report to grant 10 per cent reservations in jobs for Muslims belonging to OBCs.  

The Left-led governments in West Bengal and Kerala backed by the powerful Communist-led popular movements have been in the forefront of championing the rights of the people and their livelihood standards from being gravely eroded by the pursuit of neo-liberal economic policies by the Central government.  The consistent anti-imperialist positions and the interests of the Indian people and the country taken by the CPI(M) continues to expose the Indian ruling classes who seek a strategic partnership with imperialism.  Further, the pro-people measures undertaken by the Left-led   governments, as listed above, also expose the exploitative character of the Indian ruling classes by demonstrating that even within the existing system, greater relief can be provided to the people.  For a combination of all these factors, the Indian ruling classes have mounted a concerted offensive against the CPI(M), in its strongest bastions, in order to weaken the resistance to their unbridled loot through the neo-liberal economic trajectory. 

In West Bengal, an alliance of all reactionary forces led by the Trinamul Congress is sought to be forged to defeat the Left Front in the coming Assembly elections in May 2011.  All rightwing forces, including the communal and fundamentalist elements, foreign funded NGOs and corporate media have joined the Maoist-backed TMC in this effort. Since the 15th Lok Sabha election, 247 members  of the CPI(M) and eight members of other Left parties have been killed by the TMC-Maoist gangs. The Maoists primarily target the poorest of the poor amongst the peasantry and the tribals. Yet, sections of so-called intelligentsia continue to express sympathy. The unleashing of such large-scale violence, killings and arson by this reactionary combination is to seek the defeat of the Left Front through the most anti-democratic fascistic  methods.  The success of these forces seeks to completely negate the advances made by the democratic movement that we have noted above and pave the way for the restoration of the earlier forms of exploitative order. Already there are reports of former landlords attempting, in some areas, to recapture their formerly illegally held land that was acquired and distributed to the landless.  In the name of `change’, what is being offered is patently anti-democratic and anti-development.  Communalism that has been kept at bay by the Left movement will be enabled to stage a come back harming the interests of the minorities.  The TMC had, on earlier occasions,  openly aligned and shared power with BJP at the Centre.  

In Kerala, the Congress-led UDF is trying to consolidate all the communal and caste forces around it.  Sections of the Church are openly interfering in political affairs by conducting an anti-Communist campaign. Muslim and Hindu extremist forces are bracing themselves to disturb communal harmony in order to create political polarization.  The campaigns launched by the CPI(M) and the LDF against such activities are being met by a vilification campaign launched by a section of the media. Despite the nefarious activities of the extremists and communal forces, the state continues to maintain its excellent record of communal harmony.  

These reactionary offensives against the CPI(M) and the powerful Left and democratic movements in West Bengal and Kerala will have to be met squarely in order to defend the rights of the people and to improve their livelihood.  There have been occasions in the past when semi-fascist terror was unleashed against the CPI(M) in West Bengal.  That challenge was met and won.  In the following seven consecutive elections, no effort was spared by the reactionary forces to defeat the Left Front.  The present challenge will also be met like the earlier ones have been.  The Left Front is determined to reforge links with the people who have moved away due to certain shortcomings that have been identified and are in the process of being corrected.  

The CPI(M) as a whole, across the country, will redouble its efforts to fight back this concerted anti-Communist and anti-Left offensive.  Today the Indian people need deliverance from the groaning burdens being mounted by the neo-liberal economic policies.  The Indian people today need to strengthen our secular democratic foundations to ensure that the energies of our country are not wasted in communal and fratricidal conflicts.  The Indian people require an alternative policy trajectory that can allow India to realize its potential which it is  being denied by neo-liberalism and communalism.  All efforts of spreading violence and anarchy against the Left movement like the Maoists are today indulging in, essentially only strengthens the reactionary forces in their efforts to prevent the Indian people from being liberated from their growing miseries.  

The assembly elections in May 2011 in West Bengal and Kerala will be a major battle between the forces representing the interests of the working people, social justice,  secularism and our country’s sovereignty and the forces which are representing the interest of the big capitalists, landlords, the rich and the vested interests that seek  a strategic alliance with imperialism and who use communalism, ultra-Left anarchy and divisive politics to achieve their objectives.

The CPI(M) calls upon  all progressive sections of the people to join this battle and ensure the success of the Left Front in West Bengal and the LDF in Kerala and, thus, advance further the efforts to create a better India for its people.

Inaugural Speech of Prakash Karat

Speech of CPI(M) General Secretary, Prakash Karat
At the Inaugural Session
Of the Extended Meeting of the Central Committee
August 07, 2010



We have gathered here in the city of Vijayawada for the extended meeting of the Central Committee of Communist Party of India (Marxist). Vijayawada has a special place in the history of the Communist movement of our country. The city has hosted two Party Congresses – the 6th Congress in 1961 which was the last Party Congress of the united party and the 11th Congress of the CPI (M) in 1982.

These were in recognition of the city and the region, which became a centre of the Communist movement which had its origin in the late 1930s. Vijayawada was the focal centre of an area which covered the old Krishna, Guntur and Nellore districts of the Madras province which saw the birth of the Communist movement in Andhra Pradesh. Various struggles against zamindari landlordism took place here in the 1936-38 period such as the struggles against the Challapalli, Munagala and Kalipatnam zamindars. `Bezwada’, as Vijayawada was known in the pre-independence days, was also saw the fledgling working class movement with railway workers, press workers and others forming trade unions. The earliest agricultural workers organizations were also formed in this region. P. Sundarayya set-up the first Agricultural Workers Association in 1934 in Alaganipadu village in Nellore district.

During the Telangana struggle and the repression launched on the Communist Party in the 1948-50 period, scores of Communist leaders and cadres were shot down by the police in this region. Some of the topmost national leaders of the Communist movement and the CPI(M) hailed from this region – P. Sundarayya, M. Basavapunnaiah, C. Rajeswara Rao, N. Prasada Rao, M. Hanumantha Rao, L. B. Gangadhara Rao, Koratala Satyanarayana and many others.

The Central Committee of the CPI(M) has convened this extended meeting to take stock of the political situation in the country and to chalk out a political line which can help us to tackle the current situation and meet the various challenges that we are facing.

Ever rising prices of food and essential commodities burden the people; millions of people go hungry everyday. The inequalities in income and wealth grow sharper and India has the dubious distinction of having some of richest people in the world along with a substantial number of the poorest people in the world.

The Congress-led UPA government boasts about the high growth rate achieved. The GDP growth rate is taken as the reliable index of progress and development for the people. But this is not true. What the neo-liberal policies have led to is the primitive accumulation of capital, the enormous growth of the capital and assets in the hands of a narrow strata. The number of dollar billionaires in India has grown from 9 in 2004 to 49 this year. There has been growth, certainly – for the super-rich.

The government’s policies are designed to help big business make super profits and to enable the transfer of resources to the rich and powerful. The fiscal and taxation policies of the Congress-led government illustrate this fact starkly.

The UPA-II government in the past one and a quarter years since coming to office is pushing for more neo-liberal policies. The government wants to disinvest shares in all profitable public sector units. Earlier, the Left parties had ensured that shares would not be sold of the `navaratna’ companies. Now everything is up for sale.
Agriculture, which employs half the workforce in the country, is in crisis. Agriculture grew by only 0.2 per cent in 2009-10. Foodgrains’ production fell by 7.5 per cent the same year. Suicides by farmers have not abated. Land reforms are being reversed. In agriculture, corporatisation is being promoted alongside the withdrawal of State support for the peasantry.

The government proposes to bring in multinational companies into retail trade. The government seeks to push through legislation to FDI in banking and insurance sectors. The working class is under increased attack with labour laws not being implemented and more and more sections being pushed into contract, casual work and into jobs in the informal sector.
The agenda for all these anti-people policies is being propelled by the Indo-US CEO Forum. What the chieftains of big business in US and India proposes, the Manmohan Singh government accepts and implements.

How the government policy is injurious for the people’s interests is glaringly illustrated by the relentless price rise of food and other essential commodities. Government policies are directly responsible for the ever-rising prices. Repeated increases in the prices of petroleum products is one major reason. Forward trading in foodgrains and other essential commodities is another major factor. The government has weakened and curtailed the Public Distribution System through a targeted system which excludes much of the poor. Yet, the government callously and arrogantly refuses to take responsibility.

The Congress leadership and the government speak hypocritically about “inclusive growth” when the policies they pursue are designed to exclude the vast majority of the people from access to food, education, jobs and social security. India presents the shameful spectatcle of having the world’s largest number of hungry and malnutritioned people. The FCI godowns have 60 million tonnes of foodgrains. Stocks are overflowing and allowed to rot. This government no more talks about provision of 6 per cent of the GDP for education and 3 per cent for health. This goal cited in the erstwhile Common Minimum Programme seems more distant than ever.

The forces of majority communalism work on the basis of the Hindutva ideology and outlook which is injurious for the country and people’s unity. The BJP-run state governments – whether it be in Gujarat, Karnataka or Madhya Pradesh – are targeting the minorities, both Muslims and Christians, and seek to deprive them of their rights as citizens. The recent exposures of how the police and State machinery in Gujarat have been used to cover-up the pogroms and stage encounter killings are a chilling reminder of what is in store for the country if such forces come to power.

We are meeting at a time when some parts of the country are in great turmoil. For the past two months, the Kashmir valley has been convulsed by protests and violence. Distressingly, scores of young men and women have died due to police firing and actions. This has brought out the intensity of alienation among the young people against the Indian State in the valley. There has to be a stop to this endless cycle of confrontations and killings. The Central government has to immediately initiate the process of dialogue with all sections in the valley. A solution can be found only if there is recognition that the problem of Kashmir cannot be resolved through conventional means. The people of Kashmir have to be assured that their identity and special status is expressed through a new political framework in which maximum autonomy is the bedrock.

At the other end of the country, in the North East, we have seen the ill-effects of the continuous blockade of the highways to Manipur. Even now essential drugs and commodities are not available for the people who are suffering great hardships. The problems of national unity cannot be solved by the overcentralised approach of the ruling class parties. What is required is the creation of a federal system which accommodates the diverse aspirations of the people of the various regions and nationalities.

The neo-liberal policies are not only affecting the economic sphere. This is an outlook and philosophy which worships the market and promotes greed and rapacity. Every institution of the State and every pore of our society is getting polluted and corrupted. The nexus between big business and politics is now out in the open. Public policy making is suborned to serve the interests of a rich and powerful strata. The mining mafia of the Bellary brothers dictates politics in the BJP-ruled Karnataka and also commands influence in the politics of our host state, Andhra Pradesh. Whether it is the IPL or the telecom scam, there is no line demarcating public policy and personal enrichment. Corruption, through the siphoning off of the public funds, preys on the common people who find their rations and other entitlements vanishing into the pockets of a corrupt and greedy nexus of bureaucrats-politicians-contractors. The corporate media has become the cheer leader for neo-liberal policies.
Such an atmosphere has begun to corrode the parliamentary democratic system itself. The people’s right to assemble, to organize and to protest is being severely restricted by administrative and judicial actions. Trade unions are not allowed to function in Special Economic Zones and many other enterprises; peasants face police repression if they protests against the lands being taken away; and student unions and organizations are banned in many educational institutions.

This is the path the ruling classes have adopted which is in alignment with their alliance with the United States of America. For the Manmohan Singh government (and earlier, the BJP-led government too), there are two essential friends for India – the USA and Israel. There are no second thoughts on compromising national sovereignty and even the lives and safety of the people in order to fructify this alliance. As part of the commitment made in the Indo-US nuclear deal, the government has brought a legislation in Parliament which embodies this subservience. After the worst industrial accident in the history of the world in Bhopal, in which the victims got no justice and the perpetrator of the crime – the American multinational – was let off, the government now proposes a law which will make any American company which supplies nuclear reactors to India not liable for even one rupee if there is a nuclear accident.

The firm stand adopted by the CPI(M) and its consistent opposition to the neo-liberal policies and the strategic tie-up with US imperialism have drawn the ire of the ruling classes and imperialism. That attack is concentrated on the CPI(M) and the Left Front government of West Bengal. For the rightwing forces, for those who draw their sustenance from imperialism and for the corporate media, the bloody violence against the CPI(M) and the Left Front in West Bengal is of no concern. More than 250 members and the supporters of the CPI(M) have been killed by the TMC-Maoist gangs. The TMC is part of the Central government. Such violence and attacks on democratic rights in West Bengal presage an authoritarian trend which bodes ill for the whole country.

The Maoists have exposed their vicious and anti-democratic character through their murderous spree targeting the CPI(M). They do not stop at this but attack innocent people, as seen in the dastardly Gnaneswari Express sabotage. Such actions should dispel the illusion some sections of the intelligentsia have about the Maoists.

The three Left-led governments of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura have always striven to put in place pro-people policies. It is these three governments which have implemented land reform to the maximum in the country. It is these three governments which have sought to expand the areas of relief and welfare for the unemployed and the poor. All three governments have introduced urban employment guarantee schemes within the constraints of resources. It is these three governments which have adhered firmly to the secular principle and given no quarter to the communal forces. The defence of the Left-led governments is an important task for all the Left and democratic forces in the country.

In the last Lok Sabha elections, the CPI(M) suffered reverses in both West Bengal and Kerala. Our Party has carefully looked into why this has happened and identified the steps to be taken to remedy the situation. We should do our utmost so that the people of West Bengal and Kerala renew their faith in the Party and the Left-led alliances there.
In the present dismal scene in the country, only the CPI(M) and the Left present a real alternative – an alternative in terms of the path of development and in terms of policies.
On the economic front, the first and foremost task is to tackle the agrarian crisis. Instead of moving towards corporatisation of agriculture, the farmers are to be assured of inputs at reasonable prices, so that agriculture can be sustainable. The goal of ensuring food security requires that farmers be given sufficient incentives to produce more.

There has to be a universal Public Distribution System with adequate procurement to ensure that hunger and malnutrition are eliminated. The public sector should play a key role in the strategic sectors of the economy including the financial sector. Labour intensive industries should be encouraged, so that more employment is created.

Speculative capital flows must be regulated and profits from such foreign institutional investment taxed. Steps should be taken to recover the illegal money kept in tax havens and secret bank accounts. The corporates and the affluent should pay more taxes.
It is with the increased tax revenues that there can be increased public expenditure on education, health and social welfare.

The Left stands for firm adherence to secularism. This requires that the governments, both at the Central and state level, make no concessions to the communal forces. Terrorist violence emanating from whichever source should be put down firmly.

The Left stands for an end to caste and gender oppression. At present, the priority should be for the passing of the Bill for women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha; the implementation of the Ranganath Mishra Commission report for reservation for the minorities in education and jobs and stringent steps to end all forms of caste discrimination particularly untouchability. The rights of the tribal people over their own lands must be ensured by the implementation of the Forest Rights Act and protection of their rights by stopping large-scale, indiscriminate and illegal mining. The scourge of corruption in public life and in State institutions must be tackled by starting at the top.

India, as a major developing country, has to play an important role in countering hegemonic designs and promoting multipolarity in the world. This would be possible only if there is a genuinely independent foreign policy. India should not have military alliances with powers which are responsible for aggression and occupation around the world. On global warming and the steps to protect the world environment, India has to take a firm stand to ensure that the advanced countries discharge their responsibilities to cut emissions and to help the developing countries adopt environmental friendly technologies.

This is the charter for political and social change in India which the CPI(M) and the Left advocates. The extended meeting of the Central Committee being held in Vijayawada will discuss how to carry forward such a programme by strengthening Left unity and widening the support for the Left and democratic alternative.