People's Democracy

                                 THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT

 Subhas Ray

LED by the CPI(M), opposition members forced an adjournment in Rajya Sabha on December 9 on the question of disinvestment of two public sector oil companies. In Lok Sabha on the day, the opposition walked out in protest against the disinvestment minister Arun Shourie’s statement on the government’s decision to privatise the HPCL and BPCL. The decision, the opposition alleged, was taken at an informal meeting with the prime minister on December 6, without any discussion in the meeting of cabinet ministers. For, many ministers were against this privatisation bid.

ATROCITIES ON DALITS

Rajya Sabha held a discussion on the atrocities against Dalits in Haryana and other parts of the country. During the discussion, the CPI(M)’s A Vijaya Raghavan charged the minister of state for home affairs, I D Swami, with not condemning the organisations or persons who were justifying it. Seeing the atmosphere in the house, vice chairman Santosh Bagrodia adjourned the house for the day amid interruptions.

Seeking clarification on the minister’s statement, the CPI(M) member said the Dalit lynching at Jhajjar took place in front of about 50 policemen. Most of the culprits were from nearby villages. The district magistrate had assured him that he was going to book the culprits, but the arrests took place only on November 13. The very next day there was a procession by the people who had killed the Dalits, but the DM and senior police officers remained only mute witnesses. Why this delay of one month, Raghavan asked. Even these arrests took place only because the parliament session was around, he added.

Quoting from the statements made by VHP leaders who dared the police to take action and said “the life of a cow is more precious than that of a human being,” Raghavan asked whether, about the Dalits, this was the view to be promoted after 55 years of independence. He asked the minister to tell the house what action had been taken against the people who are perpetuating hatred against the Dalits.

CLOSURE OF  FERTILISER UNITS

On the closure of Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation (HFCL) and Fertiliser Corporatioin of India (FCI), Dipankar Mukherjee, CPI(M), moved a calling attention motion in Rajya Sabha. He accused the government of treating the 12,000 workers of these plants as slaves, and asked the chemicals and fertilisers minister S S Dhindsa if these workers were criminals. Why the government sent its police and district magistrates got the workers’ water and power connections cut off to get their quarters vacated. These units have also started a voluntary separation scheme (VSS) for their employees, giving them three months notice to opt for the scheme, failing which they will be retrenched. Mukherjee asked what exactly the executive was aiming at.  

Dealing with the issue of fertiliser, Mukherjee said the government’s policy is to have no bio-fertiliser. If fertiliser is supplemented by bio-fertiliser, production can go up by 20 per cent. There are eight bio-fertiliser units --- in West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar and Assam. What is the justification of closing these units? Mukherjee said the minister’s statement was full of contradictions and he was misleading the house. The minister claimed the country is self-sufficient in fertiliser as the production is 216 lakh tonnes and consumption, 199 lakh tonnes. But he did not tell about the growth anticipated for the next five years. If the rate of growth is 10 per cent by 2006-07, consumption will be to the tune of 310 lakh tonnes. Right now, our capacity is 21 millions tonnes and closure of the bio-fertiliser units will mean a reduction in it by 2.5 million tonnes. Thus the left-over capacity will be 190 lakh tonnes, meaning a gap of at least 100 lakh tonnes, to be met up with imports. Right now, there is a 160 lakh tonnes surplus in world market. But the moment these units are closed, the international price will increase. Mukherjee wanted to know if there is any long term planning in this regard. 

The CPI(M) member also charged that there is a lobby that wants fertiliser import for the sake of its ten per cent cut. Today, the availability is ensured and every state is allocated a fertiliser quota. Due to freight subsidy, every farmer in every corner of the country gets urea at the same price. But now a ‘free market’ economy has started. Allocation of essential commodities is going to be ended. It appears there would be no freight subsidy by 2004-05. Yet the government says the farmers will be protected and that the cost of urea will be same in all parts of India by 2006!

About the Durgapur and Barauni units and the research division of HFCL, Mukherjee asked under which law was the government going to close down them. He concluded by reminding the government of its promise of a review and of the prime minister’s opinion that each state must have one urea unit.

COMPANIES BILL

On December 10, Lok Sabha passed the Companies (Amendment) Bill 2001. Opposing the bill, the CPI(M)’s Rupchand Pal said the bill was not going to help in the revival and rehabilitation of sick industries. Referring to the misuse of section 22 of BIFR Act by unscrupulous industrialists who make their own units sick and thereby become rich, Pal said government officers are directly colluding in it. Dunlop India was a profit-making company but they referred it to the BIFR as a sick company. Who, Pal asked, is responsible for it? It is the workers who suffer in the process. 

And now private liquidators are to come. The same people who made their own companies sick will now become the liquidators. As for the department of company affairs that is to regulate the companies, it has been extending patronage to corrupt companies in the country. Small units are suffering. 

Pal said the increasing imports because of the WTO stipulations are causing sickness in indigenous industries. More than four lakh units are sick because of the government’s policy and now the government is out to wind them up. Yet, Pal insisted, the units the government considers sick may give better results if they are given proper and adequate help. Demanding the bill’s withdrawal, Pal urged the government to wait till the other standing committee on the SICA Repeal Bill gave its recommendation.

BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY BILL

This week Rajya Sabha passed the Biological Diversity Bill 2002. During the debate, CPI(M) leader S Ramachandran Pillai said the mounting pressure of population on biological resources is causing concern. Another factor is the injudicious utilisation of resources and our faulty development policies. A third factor is the threat of bio-piracy. But the bill is concerned with only one aspect --- the commercial aspect. It is not adequately equipped to provide for conservation, promotion and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Describing the provisions of the bill as vague, he said there are conflicts, overlappings, and lack of clarity as to how the government is going to settle these issues. As per the provisions of the biodiversity convention, access to biodiversity must be on the basis of two factors --- on the basis of prior informed consent, and on the basis of mutually agreed terms of benefit sharing. But local communities are not given the right to access to biological resources, or over their innovations, practices, knowledge and technologies. That is the indigenous knowledge the people have developed. Article 8 (j) of the convention recognises the link between biodiversity and traditional knowledge. But the bill does not provide for adequate protection of traditional knowledge. 

There are three other important acts dealing with the same area of concern --- the Seed Act 1996; the Protection of Plant Varieties of Farmers Act 2001; and the Patent Amendment Act 2000. There are many overlappings between these acts. Pillai also wondered why the department of commerce, that deals with intellectual property rights, was not involved. As for the National Biodiversity Authority and State Biodiversity Boards, they are based mainly on bureaucrats. That is one of their serious defects. Then, the central government has taken away whatever rights and authority they were given, and these bodies cannot work properly. Hence the government must consider these deficiencies and come forward with suitable amendments, Pillai demanded. He also asked the government to come forward to conserve our wholesome biological resources, take steps to ensure the sustainable use of these resources, and ensure that their benefits are equitably shared.

SITUATION IN NORTH EAST 

This week Lok Sabha passed the North Eastern Council (Amendment) Bill 2002. The bill was brought in winter 1998, reconsidered by the government in March 2001 and referred to the concerned standing committee in August 2001. Earlier, in 1998, Rajya Sabha had unanimously passed the bill, and the aim of the amendment was to include Sikkim in the North Eastern Council.

Rising to speak on the bill, the CPI(M)’s Nikhilananda Sar and Prasanta Chatterjee said we have miserably failed to develop the north east area; as a result it has become a paradise for anti-national terrorist activities. Killing of innocent people by terrorists is now common in Assam and Tripura. One cannot travel through Nagaland without the help of paramilitary forces. As for Tripura, militants cross the border and attack the innocent people with impunity. This state needs adequate force with sophisticated weapons to guard its long border with Bangladesh. The government has to take steps to curb the separatist forces and bring the region into the national mainstream. 

The region’s economy is stagnant. Backwardness, lack of development, acute unemployment and landlessness are the major causes for the younger generation’s frustration here. The region must be given adequate funds for all-round development. The region is full of natural resources and priority must be given to developing the infrastructure here. Rail line extension and gauge conversion require immediate attention. Even many state capitals in the region have no rail link. The number of flights has to be increased. There exist nine autonomous councils but there is no coordination in the North Eastern Council. Steps are needed for emotional integration of the region with other parts of the country. The CPI(M) members urged the government to convert the North Eastern Council into a regional planning body so that the development objectives are realised in a more effective manner, and to incorporate the entire area with various development programmes.