People's
Democracy
(Weekly
Organ
of
the
Communist
Party
of
India
(Marxist)No. 09
March 02, 2003
(Weekly
Organ
of
the
Communist
Party
of
India
(Marxist) |
Vol.
XXVII
No. 09 March 02, 2003 |
On
February
18,
the
Rajya
Sabha
began
its
proceedings
on
a
contentious
note
with
the
government
refusing
the
Left
parties
demand
to
move
a
resolution
against
the
impending
war
on
Iraq
for
unanimous
adoption
by
the
House.
The
Lok
Sabha
too
witnessed
a
heated
atmosphere
when
the
government
refused
the
opposition
demand
for
taking
up
their
adjournment
motions
moved
on
the
Ayodhya
developments.
The
opposition
charged
the
government
of
shedding
all
pretence
of
so-called
neutrality
and
exhibiting
a
clear
tilt
towards
the
divisive
forces
by
moving
the
Supreme
Court.
The
CPI(M)
floor
leader,
Somnath
Chatterjee
termed
the
government
decision
as
a
‘diabolical
move.’
The
entire
opposition
staged
a
walkout
from
the
Lok
Sabha
during
zero-hour
on
February
20
protesting
the
misuse
of
POTA.
CPI(M)
DEMANDS
RESOLUTION
ON
IRAQ
The
Lok
Sabha
held
a
short
duration
discussion
on
the
‘threat
to
international
peace
due
to
mounting
tension
between
USA
and
Iraq.’
Participating
in
the
discussion,
CPI(M)
member
Rupchand
Pal
said
that
the
script
for
the
current
American
war
plans
has
been
written
long
back
and
it
is
moving
ahead
disregarding
the
entire
world
opinion
against
war.
As
till
date
no
evidence
of
any
weapons
of
mass
destruction
has
been
found
in
Iraq,
Rupchand
Pal
said
there
is
absolutely
no
case
against
Iraq.
The
US,
however,
is
advancing
bogus
arguments
for
waging
war,
which
are
not
being
accepted
even
by
its
allies.
Even
inside
America,
there
is
a
strong
opinion
against
Bush’s
war
drive.
Rupchand
Pal
criticised
the
government
for
not
clearly
spelling
out
India’s
opposition
to
war.
He
expressed
doubt
that
this
government
is
surreptitiously
preparing
itself
to
support
the
military
operation
against
Iraq
and
insisted
that
the
House
should
pass
a
unanimous
resolution
distancing
India
from
the
moves
of
US-UK
alliance
to
attack
Iraq.
“Let
the
Indian
Parliament
join
the
voice
for
peace
and
against
war”,
he
said.
Pal
also
warned
that
the
war
designs
of
the
US
will
result
in
the
growth
of
fundamentalism.
Reminding
the
government
that
anti-imperialism
has
been
the
key
element
in
India’s
foreign
policy
thus
far,
he
stressed
this
is
the
time
when
we
should
stand
up
against
imperialism’s
new
war
drive.
DISINVESTMENT
FLAYED
The
Rajya
Sabha
held
a
short
duration
discussion
on
the
disinvestment
of
profit-making
PSUs,
with
special
reference
to
HPCL
and
BPCL.
The
opposition
members
were
livid
that
these
enterprises
that
were
created
through
an
Act
of
Parliament
are
today
being
disinvested
bypassing
the
Parliament.
They
demanded
that
the
Attorney-General
be
summoned
to
the
House
and
explain
his
opinion
that
parliamentary
approval
was
not
required
to
disinvest
these
companies.
The
members
reminded
that
the
acquisition
of
shares
of
Burman
Shell,
Esso
and
Caltex,
was
done
through
an
Act
of
Parliament
and
thereafter
the
government
spent
money
for
creating
BPCL
and
HPCL
out
of
them.
Even
for
this,
the
government
had
to
come
to
Parliament
and
take
the
approval
of
the
House.
And
today,
if
the
executive
decides
that
without
amending
the
Act
of
Parliament,
the
executive
has
the
right
to
disinvest
these
companies
what
will
be
the
fate
of
accountability
to
the
Parliament,
they
questioned.
Dipankar
Mukherjee
of
the
CPI(M)
said
that
a
majority
of
political
parties
were
not
in
favour
of
privatising
the
profit-making
PSU’s.
On
this
issue
there
was
a
national
consensus,
but
the
prime
minister
stated
just
the
opposite
by
declaring
there
was
a
consensus
in
favour
of
disinvestment.
The
Parliamentary
Standing
Committee
on
Petroleum
and
Chemicals
in
its
report
on
May
17,
2002
had
opposed
the
disinvestment
of
BPCL
and
HPCL
for
certain
specific
reasons.
With
the
government
totally
disregarding
the
views
of
the
Standing
Committee,
the
basic
relevance
of
these
committees
is
being
undermined,
he
felt.
The
Lok
Sabha
had
a
discussion
on
the
Water
(Prevention
and
Control
of
Pollution)
Cess
(Amendment)
Bill,
2002.
Moinul
Hassan
of
CPI(M)
while
participating
in
the
discussion
strongly
opposed
the
cess
on
water
that
is
used
for
drinking
and
cooking
purposes.
He
said
that
as
the
water
is
a
state
subject,
the
state
governments
should
be
taken
into
confidence
in
regard
to
the
implementation
of
various
provisions
of
this
Bill.
Ridiculing
the
government’s
high
talk
of
providing
fresh
drinking
water,
Hassan
drew
attention
to
the
reality
of
people
who
are
forced
to
drink
water
mixed
with
the
arsenic
fluoride.
At
least
thirteen
states
are
today
facing
the
problems
caused
by
arsenic,
chloride
and
saline
content
of
water.
He
demanded
that
the
government
must
take
immediate
steps
to
check
this
problem.
Similarly
a
vast
number
of
people
are
suffering
from
water-borne
diseases
due
to
unsafe
drinking
water.
There
is
no
proper
water
treatment
available
even
in
urban
areas.
Villagers
are
forced
to
drink
water
from
ponds,
rivers,
wells
and
tube
wells.
On
the
same
day
the
Lok
Sabha
took
up
the
Election
Laws
(Amendment)
Bill,
1999.
From
the
CPI(M)
side,
Hannan
Mollah
and
Varkala
Radhakrishnan
accused
the
government
of
evading
the
entire
gamut
of
electoral
reforms
issues
viz
removing
criminalisation
of
politics
and
elections,
state
funding
and
so
on.
They
demanded
that
the
government
must
address
the
recommendations
made
by
the
Indrajit
Gupta
Committee
and
other
committees.
The
Government
should
bring
some
comprehensive
Bills
addressing
all
these
pending
issues
so
that
the
electoral
process
and
right
to
franchise
can
be
truly
and
fully
practiced
in
our
democratic
system.
Saying
that
persons
in
uniform
must
exercise
their
right
to
franchise,
they
however,
objected
to
the
use
of
the
word
‘proxy
vote’.
In
elections
the
word
‘proxy’
is
used
as
cheating.
At
the
end,
they
emphasised
the
Government
should
discuss
this
Bill
again
with
all
the
political
parties
and
find
out
certain
methods
like
utilising
science
and
technology
to
ensure
the
voting
rights
of
service
personnel.
DISCUSSION
ON
MOTION
OF
THANKS
Participating
in
the
discussion
on
the
Motion
of
Thanks
on
the
President’s
Address,
CPI(M)
floor
leader
in
Rajya
Sabha,
S
Ramachandran
Pillai,
concentrated
on
the
issues
of
poverty
and
unemployment.
He
said
the
very
talk
about
GDP
growth
rate
of
8
or
10
per
cent
is
useless
as
long
as
crores
of
people
live
in
utter
poverty.
Pillai
termed
it
as
shameful
that
more
than
55
years
since
independence
the
rulers
of
our
country
could
not
solve
this
primary
task
of
elimination
of
poverty.
He
warned
that
the
large-scale
migration
of
people
in
search
of
food
and
employment
will
have
serious
economic
and
social
consequences.
The
government’s
mindless
privatisation
policies
are
resulting
in
large-scale
sickness
of
industries,
their
closure
and
lay-off
of
lakhs
of
workers.
Added
to
this,
the
reduction
in
interest
rate
on
the
Provident
Fund
has
resulted
in
siphoning
off
Rs
6000
crore
of
workers
money.
And
now
the
government
is
introducing
certain
legislations
to
curb
the
basic
trade
union
rights
of
the
workers
in
the
country,
which
is
being
resisted
by
the
working
class,
said
Pillai.
He
mentioned
the
massive
‘March
to
Parliament’
being
organised
by
the
trade
unions
on
February
26.
Drawing
attention
to
the
most
exploited
section
of
our
society
-
the
agricultural
workers,
Pillai
demanded
immediate
enactment
of
a
comprehensive
Bill
for
agricultural
workers.
With
their
workdays
and
real
wages
declining
by
the
day
and
the
absence
of
minimum
wages
and
social
securities,
the
life
of
agricultural
labour
has
become
truly
miserable,
said
Pillai.
He
said
that
there
is
a
shrinkage
of
institutional
credit
facilities
in
rural
areas
and
because
of
want
of
more
investments
in
irrigation,
power,
science
and
technology
and
infrastructual
facilities,
the
agricultural
production
was
not
picking
up.
On
the
foreign
policy
of
the
government
Pillai
questioned
how
the
government
was
going
to
deal
with
the
major
threat
posed
by
American
imperialism,
which
is
trying
to
establish
its
hegemony
over
the
world.
He
warned
that
the
proposed
US
war
against
Iraq
would
have
a
serious
impact
on
the
economy
of
the
country.
The
oil
prices
will
shoot
up.
Many
Indians
working
in
Gulf
countries
will
have
to
flee
from
there.
He
criticised
the
government
for
being
silent
on
this
issue
and
casually
mentioning
it
in
the
President’s
Address.
Referring
to
the
Ayodhya
issue,
Pillai
accused
the
government
of
blatantly
siding
with
the
VHP
and
other
Hindu
fanatics
and
said
that
the
secular
polity
is
under
grave
threat
today.
On
the
centre-state
relations
he
charged
the
government
of
continuing
to
force
the
states
to
fall
in
line
with
the
policies
of
the
central
government.
The
Finance
and
the
Planning
Commission
have
become
an
instrument
in
pressurising
the
state
governments.
There
was
a
discussion
in
the
Rajya
Sabha
on
the
severe
drought
situation
prevailing
in
various
parts
of
the
country.
A
Vijay
Raghavan
of
CPI(M)
described
the
drought
situation
as
the
worst
in
the
last
30
years
with
about
one-third
geographical
area
affected.
In
Kerala,
the
loss
of
cash
crops
like
coconut
and
rubber
is
heavy.
He
demanded
that
the
formula
on
the
basis
of
which
relief
is
provided
to
Kerala
should
be
changed.
Food
for
Work
programme
and
strengthening
of
the
PDS
is
very
important
for
the
agricultural
workers
and
landless
labourers
who
are
migrating
from
rural
areas
to
the
urban
towns
in
search
of
work.
Pointing
out
the
fact
that
starvation
deaths
were
occurring
in
many
parts
of
the
country
despite
overflowing
stocks
of
foodgrains
in
the
godowns,
Vijay
Raghavan
demanded
a
change
in
the
government’s
policy
on
PDS.
He
requested
the
prime
minister
to
call
an
all-party
meeting
to
evolve
measures
needed
to
tackle
the
drought
situation.
(February
23,
2003)
