Subhas Ray

THE sudden spurt in terrorist killings in Jammu and Kashmir found its echo in both the houses of parliament when angry opposition members flayed the government. In Lok Sabha, the entire opposition staged an angry walkout on August 8 against the centre’s callous way of dealing with the situation. No government in the nation’s history had so miserably failed in preserving law and order in the state, the opposition sharply accused. Somnath Chatterjee, CPI(M), said ministers were speaking in different voices on the issue. In Rajya Sabha, the CPI(M)’s Nilotpal Basu criticised the government for its failure to come out with a statement on the recent killings.

Next day, on August 9, the opposition in both houses strongly demanded home minister L K Advani’s resignation for failure to control terrorism in the state and staged walkouts.

Moving his resolution in Rajya Sabha on centre-state ties, the CPI(M)’s S Ramachandran Pillai said the issue was intimately connected with the issue of the country’s unity and integrity. India is a heterogeneous land of diverse languages, cultures, ethnicity and history. There were many drives in the past for over-centralisation, but all of them proved harmful. Dealing with the Sarkaria report, Pillai said one of the basic elements of our constitution is its federalism though it has a strong unitary tendency. Instead of strengthening the federal structure, however, the central government tends to have more and more powers by usurping the rights and powers of the states. This trend creates fissiparous tendencies and the divisive forces make use of it. Of course a strong and efficient centre is needed but this is possible only if states are also strong. But, under the Congress and the BJP, the centre has been doing just the opposite. It tried to weaken the states and abdicate its responsibilities. Since independence, the centre misused article 356 a number of times to impose president’s rule in the opposition-ruled states. States are being treated as the centre’s fiefdoms. Also, some states are being pampered and some are neglected, leading to uneven development and hence discontent.

On the fiscal relations, Pillai said states consistently complain that the division of fiscal resources is disbalanced in favour of the centre. The states are asking for more say in transfer of tax revenue, in institutions like the Finance Commission and Planning Commission, etc. But the centre goes on encroaching upon the limited powers the states have. The centre constituted the 11th Finance Commission and made a change in its terms of reference, to make it monitor the states’ fiscal policies by using the instruments of statutory financial devolution. This is a serious encroachment on the rights of the states in formulating their fiscal policies. Now the centre is trying to encroach upon the states’ rights through the Planning Commission.

Pillai sharply criticised the central government that subjective elements influenced its decisions even with regard to the natural calamities. In regard to the support price and procurement of foodgrains, the centre discriminated against some states. He said that while fixing a higher price for wheat and paddy and favouring some northern states by allocating more funds, the centre discriminated against the rubber and coconut cultivators of the southern states. The centre is abdicating its responsibility of procuring foodgrains from the surplus states and supplying them to the deficit states. Urging more powers for the states and the panchayat raj institutions, Pillai appealed the house to adopt his resolution.

Rajya Sabha held a discussion on the recent Indo-Pak summit in Agra. The CPI(M)’s S Ramachandran Pillai said the process of dialogue between India and Pakistan can indeed bring peace and permanent settlement of the outstanding issues between them. But the lack of preparation on part of the NDA government led to failure of the Agra summit. Dealing with aspects of the Indo-Pak relations, the J&K situation and the issue of maximum possible autonomy for the state, Pillai stressed the need for discussion with mainstream parties of Kashmir and all-India parties. He said the government lacked a consistent policy on Kashmir and is led by adhocism, and wanted to know how far the government was prepared to go on these issues. He also warned against the RSS move to trifurcate the state on communal lines.

While Lok Sabha discussed the Doda killings under a Calling Attention Motion, members in Rajya Sabha sought a clarification on the home minister’s statement. The CPI(M)’s Somnath Chatterjee in Lok Sabha and Nilotpal Basu in Rajya Sabha unequivocally condemned the killings. They said the situation in J&K has worsened in the last three years and asked what the government had done to protect the people there. The citizens of the state, who fought heroically to join the Indian Union and rejected the two-nation theory, have been left at the mercy of the terrorists. The members then protested against the home minister’s outright rejection of the demand for autonomy for J&K. They also said there were several loopholes in our security set-up in tackling the increasing militant threat in Jammu and Kashmir. The area of Doda is very vulnerable but the government has failed to use helicopters to tackle the terrorists in this very adverse terrain. They also warned that with Pokharan, the NDA regime has created a situation for international intervention in Kashmir. The home minister gave a warning on the increase threat from the Pak-sponsored militant on July 16, but the meeting to review the security arrangements took place after three weeks. With such an ad hoc reaction, he asked, how can they control the situation?

Rajya Sabha passed this week the Electricity Regulatory Commissions (Amendment) Bill 2001. During the discussion, Dipankar Mukherjee of the CPI(M) said the bill’s objectives needed to be reformulated as the regulatory commissions have to take care of important aspects relating to conservation, safety, energy, audit, etc. Regarding grid safety, a sort of anarchy prevails, and the Central Electricity Authority should have powers to ensure safety. Secondly, the norms for energy consumption and energy audit also require a regulation. Thirdly, the CEA should be accountable to the parliament. A review of the functioning of regulatory commissions in the state legislatures and at the centre should be done. So far as the tariff is concerned, they cannot work independently because that will create anarchy in the country.

On the Food Corporation (Amendment) Bill, Basudev Acharya and Bajuban Riyan from the CPI(M) joined the debate in Lok Sabha. They said the FCI now has a huge buffer stock mainly because of the increase in grain prices in the public distribution system. As a result, some states have reduced their offtake by 20-30 per cent. Unfortunately, we have a peculiar government that is depriving the poor people of food while exporting foodgrains at a price below that for the below-poverty-line people. Acharya then wanted to know about the government’s plan and programme. Why is the government trying to weaken the FCI by throwing the responsibility of procurement and distribution of foodgrains on to state governments, he asked.

The problem with the FCI is that it does not have enough storing capacity, said Bajuban Riyan. This is leading to a waste of and damage to foodgrains, making them unfit for human consumption. State governments are not lifting the allotted quantity. This problem started when there was a hike in the price for APL people. Now, good quality foodgrains go for an auction and poor quality foodgrains are sent to the ration shops. Most of the ration shops have become non-functional due to this price hike. Private traders are taking advantage of this situation to make profit.

This week Lok Sabha discussed the flood situation in the country. From the CPI(M) side, Suresh Kurup said the recent flood in Kerala was most severe in 30 years, killing 107 people and rendering 20,000 homeless. Roads were damaged and crops destroyed. Some unnatural calamity also occurred. Some wells suddenly disappeared and the earth is caving in without anyone digging it. A multicolour rain also occurred in Kerala. Seawalls built earlier were damaged, badly affecting the people living in the whole coastal belt.

The floods caused a loss to the tune of Rs 552 crore. But the fund allotted was a mere Rs 26 crore. This is the way the centre discriminates against some states in giving relief. He demanded that, in view of the serious situation in the state, Rs 552 crore must be immediately released for Kerala. He also demanded a central team to study the unnatural geological phenomena occurring in Kerala.

CPI(M) members in Lok Sabha forced the government to withdraw the Jute Packaging Materials (Compulsory Use in Packing Commodities) Repeal Bill. Protesting against the bill, Basudev Acharya said the bill was passed in 1987 to protect our jute industry. He reminded how the industry suffered after partition when the jute growing areas went to East Pakistan, and how the peasants of West Bengal made the country self-reliant in jute. Lakhs of jute growers as well as workers, most of them from Bihar and Orissa, are dependent on the industry.

Though the act was enacted to protect the jute industry from the challenge of plastic bags, a lobby has been pressuring the government to withdraw the mandatory order. So, if this bill is passed, the entire jute industry and the livelihood of lakhs of people will be at stake. Hence the need to withdraw the repeal bill.

Acharya was supported by many other members. The bill was withdrawn.

Acharya also raised the issue of wagon industry in the house through a special mention. He said West Bengal had a number of units manufacturing wagons, both in public and private sectors. Four months have already lapsed in the current financial year and the orders for the current year have not been released by the Indian Railways that will require 23,000 wagons this year. For the first time the ministry of railways has not placed orders for wagon acquisition. As a result, some units in West Bengal have closed down. The workers have not received wages for four months. Leaders of all parties met the minister on July 25 when he categorically told the officials to release the orders within a week. But no order has been released yet. Some officials in Railway Board do not want to release an order. There was a complaint against the use of inferior quality steel. Acharya demanded an inquiry into this scandal and punishment to whosoever is responsible.