People's Democracy

Central Committee Communiqu�

THE Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) held a meeting on July 11-12, 2009 to discuss the Kerala Party matters. It has issued the following statements:

ON KERALA PARTY AFFAIRS

THE Central Committee decided that in view of the violations of the organizational principle and discipline by V S Achuthanandan, he should be removed from the Polit Bureau. Achuthanandan is the senior most leader who has made a big contribution to the Party in Kerala. The Central Committee expected VS to fulfill his responsibilities as the chief minister and as a leader of the Party.

The Central Committee examined the report submitted by the Polit Bureau on the SNC Lavalin contract for the renovation and modernisation of three hydroelectric projects in Kerala which were entered into by the UDF government in 1995-96 and which were subsequently implemented by the LDF government. The Central Committee is of the view that Pinarayi Vijayan, secretary of the Kerala state committee and the Electricity minister in the then LDF government between 1996-98 was not involved in any corrupt practice whatsoever. The Central Committee reiterated that the Party will fight the case politically and legally.

The Central Committee authorised the Polit Bureau to take necessary steps to implement the Central Committee decisions. The Kerala state committee should unify the entire Party and go to the people with the political and organisational tasks which have been spelt out in the review of the Lok Sabha elections.

G-8 RESTRICTIONS ON NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY

The G-8 decision that they will not transfer full Enrichment and Reprocessing (ENR) technologies to non-NPT countries would mean that India will not get full civilian nuclear cooperation as claimed by the UPA government. The CPI(M) had made it clear that the Nuclear Suppliers Group's waiver was neither �clean� nor �unconditional� as was being claimed then. Behind the so-called �clean� waiver stands the Hyde Act and its provisions. Other G8 countries have also now fallen in line with the Hyde Act. The same conditions are being finalised in the NSG and India had already agreed at the time of the waiver that it will abide by all such future changes.

The country needs to know what the government intends to do about this denial of ENR technologies by G8. Is it that it was fully aware that ENR ban was on the anvil and the so-called charade of �clean exemption� in the NSG was conducted to hoodwink the people? What does it now intend to do about buying reactors from countries who have declared that they will continue with the current discriminatory regime? This is particularly important as the US state department officials are now asking that India identify sites for the 10,000 MW of reactors it has committed to buy from US sources. With this ban in place, any move in this direction will seriously jeopardise India's future energy security.

The government of India should come clean on these issues pending which India should enter at best only fuel supply contracts and not agree to buying of imported reactors from countries who are a part of this restrictive technology regime.

IMPACT OF DEFICIT MONSOON

The Central Committee expressed serious concern about the prospect of a drought-like situation due to the delayed and deficient monsoon. So far, the delayed monsoon has led to a big drop in the acreage for cultivation of various crops. The intensity of the crisis is evident by the fact that in Punjab and Haryana there is a shortfall of 8.17 lakh hectares in paddy transplantation.

The response of the government has been tardy and shows disregard for the plight of millions of farmers and agricultural workers. The government has to recognise that a drought is possible and take urgent remedial measures to help the peasantry. The minimum support price (MSP) for kharif crops has not yet been announced and the delay will lead to distress sales.

The Central Committee demands that the government come out with a comprehensive response to meet the emerging serous situation.

CAMPAIGN ON FOOD SECURITY

The Central Committee decided to take up the issue of BPL and APL categories in the public distribution system. In view of the government's decision to enact a food security law, the CC authorized the Party Centre to formulate the issue so that no section of the people are excluded from the public distribution system and the provision of food security.

PLIGHT OF TAMIL CIVILIANS IN SRI LANKA

The Central Committee expressed its serious concern about the three lakh Tamil population who were displaced from their homes during the last phase of the conflict in Sri Lanka. The armed conflict initiated by the LTTE has ended. But in the last phase around 7,000 Tamil civilians died and lakhs rendered homeless.

These displaced people have been living in camps set up by the administration. These camps did not have adequate facilities and are not intended for a prolonged stay.

Unfortunately, the Sri Lankan government is not taking steps to speedily return and rehabilitate the civilian population in their homes. This is leading to discontent and the resultant alienation amongst the people will not help in bringing normalcy and peace.

The main step to be taken after the decades of conflict and violence is to ensure that there is a lasting political solution to the Tamil question. Despite the assurances being given by the Sri Lankan president, the process of working out a political solution has not made much progress. The Central Committee is of the firm opinion that this is the right time to work out the provision of genuine autonomy for the Tamil-speaking areas within the framework of a united Sri Lanka. The government of India should step up its diplomatic and political efforts with the Sri Lankan government in this regard.