People's
Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of
India (Marxist) No. 50
December 22,2002
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of
India (Marxist) |
Vol.
XXVI No. 50 December 22,2002 |
KERALA
LDF MLAs Stage Dharna Demanding Assembly Session
THE
opposition
in
Kerala
legislature,
led
by
the
CPI(M),
has
demanded
that
the
chief
minister
summon
the
assembly
session
immediately
to
discuss
the
Asian
Development
Bank
(ADB)
conditionalities
for
the
grant
of
$200
million
loan
to
Kerala
state
government.
Legislators
belonging
to
the
Left
Democratic
Front
(LDF)
staged
a
day-long
satyagraha
in
front
of
the
secretariat
building
in
Thiruvananthapuram
on
December
17
pressing
this
demand.
The
LDF
legislators
had
to
resort
to
this
step
as
the
state
government
stubbornly
refused
to
convene
the
assembly
session
despite
demands
from
the
opposition
for
the
last
one
month.
The
LDF
MLAs
marched
from
the
MLA
Hostel
to
the
secretariat
in
a
procession
to
participate
in
this
satyagraha.
Inaugurating
the
satyagraha,
the
leader
of
the
opposition,
V
S
Achutanandan
accused
the
chief
minister
A
K
Antony
of
adopting
a
dictatorial
stance
on
the
issue
of
the
ADB
loan
and
warned
that
the
opposition
would
continue
its
struggle
till
the
assembly
is
convened.
He
made
it
clear
that
the
next
government
of
LDF
will
not
be
bound
by
such
an
agreement
which
is
kept
secret
from
the
legislature
and
the
people
of
the
state.
Paloli
Muhamad
Kutty,
the
LDF
convener
and
leaders
of
all
parties
constituting
the
LDF
addressed
the
satyagraha.
Trade
Unions
and
mass
organisations
held
demonstrations
in
solidarity
with
the
agitating
MLAs.
The
officials
representing
the
state
of
Kerala
have
signed
an
agreement
at
Manila
with
the
ADB,
by
which
it
will
lend
Rs
1200
crore
to
the
government
of
Kerala
to
introduce
administrative
reforms
in
the
state.
The
Antony
government
has
agreed
to
“improve”
the
administrative
system
as
per
the
ADB
conditionalities.
The
agreement
was
signed
in
a
very
opaque
manner
without
informing
the
members
of
the
cabinet,
let
alone
the
assembly
and
the
people
of
the
state.
In
order
to
implement
these
conditionalities,
a
high
power
committee
with
ten
departmental
secretaries
was
organised
and
installed
in
the
chief
minister’s
office.
The
government
has
also
agreed
to
appoint
an
IAS
officer
as
the
secretary
of
this
committee
and
also
that
this
secretary
should
not
be
transferred
in
the
coming
three
years.
One
of
the
conditionality
demands
of
the
government
to
suppress
all
labor
unrest
with
an
iron
hand
by
2003.
The
police
should
be
alerted
to
do
this
within
the
stipulated
time.
The
state
election
commission
is
instructed
to
act
according
to
the
ADB
whims
and
fancies.
The
election
of
aided
schoolteachers
to
the
local
bodies
should
be
stopped
by
2003.
The
ADB
also
instructs
the
government
to
revise
the
school
and
college
syllabi
by
using
the
services
of
a
consultant
of
ADB’s
choice.
The
directives
regarding
the
local
self-government
would
implicitly
destroy
the
whole
decentralisation
program.
One
of
the
directives
is
to
sanction
allotments
according
to
the
performance
of
each
local
body,
instead
of
the
present
system
of
allotting
grants
in
proportion
to
the
population
of
each
local
unit,
like
panchayat
or
municipality
or
corporation.
This
should
be
implemented
b
y
June
2003.
This
is
a
heinous
attempt
to
implement
globalisation
policies
over
the
local
self-governing
bodies.
