People's Democracy

THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT

Subhas Ray

THE week began in Lok Sabha with the prime minister’s reply on the motion of thanks to the president on March 3 while Rajya Sabha started a discussion on rail budget.

UP TAPE CONTROVERSY

The videotape controversy involving the UP chief minister, Ms Mayawati, rocked the Lok Sabha for two consecutive days. Amid interruptions, the opposition demanded a probe into the tape that showed Ms Mayawati asking her party MPs and MLAs to contribute from constituency development funds to party coffers. The opposition also demanded that either the letter written by her to deputy prime minister be tabled in the house or its contents divulged. The government’s refusal to meet the demand enraged the members, leading to noisy scenes in the house.

In Rajya Sabha, the issue was raised next day through special mention. Sarla Maheswari, CPI(M), said whatever happened in UP assembly on March 5 was a mockery of democracy. The UP chief minister’s tapes have put the ruling parties in the dock. The so-called Dalit party has thrown Dr Ambedkar’s ideals to the winds. Nothing is being done for the Dalits’ welfare in UP. There the government is abetting casteism, corruption, malpractices and political opportunism in order to remain in power. The issue concerns all of us as it threatens our democracy, Maheswari said.

Women members in Rajya Sabha strongly demanded a ban on airing of vulgar songs and advertisements on TV and asked the government to curb the menace.

LABOUR UNREST

The CPI(M)’s Jibon Roy moved a calling attention motion in Rajya Sabha regarding growing labour unrest due to privatisation of public sector units. He said the government agrees that so far as labour is concerned, the situation is not satisfactory. The question is: why is the situation deteriorating? The Second National Commission on Labour has not done justice to the working class. But it has made some graphic observations on the reforms’ consequences. It has depicted an economic collapse and observed that a large number of industries are downsizing or closing down. This has resulted in retrenchments. A large number of workers have lost jobs. Small-scale industries are the worst affected; a large number have closed down. Capital market is almost dead for three years. The report further says 200 million mandays were lost during 1999-2000; out of that, 120 million mandays were lost due to lockouts. Eight lakh workers have been thrown out of jobs. 

Roy said the house was assured that not a single employee would be victimised. But the employees who were thrown out in the name of a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) are deprived of VRS money. The ministry of labour has practically become the ministry of employers. The Second National Commission on Labour has noticed a divergent attitude on part of the central government towards labour and employers. “Now, permissions for closure and retrenchment are more easily granted,” the report says. Extensively quoting from the report, Roy said the conciliation machinery is more eager to consider the employers’ problems. The industrial relations machinery is not seriously pursuing the recovery proceedings against employers who did not pay the workers’ dues. The labour adjudication machinery is more willing to entertain the industrialists’ concerns.

According to other reports, the growth rate of labour force has gone down. Between 1983 and 1994, the average rate was 2.04 per cent. During 1995-2000 it plummeted to 0.98 per cent. Unemployment has gone up by 30 per cent. This is alarming. The government is redistributing poverty by decreasing the number of organised workers and increasing the contract workers. Today, in the industrial sector, contract workers form 30 per cent of the workforce. As far as agricultural labourers are concerned, they were 24.54 per cent of the rural population in 1981; now about 30 per cent villagers are landless.

As for wages, a labour ministry document shows the wage level in private industries remains abysmally low. But in 2001, the prices of foodgrains went up by 66 per cent. The people are starving in spite of the abundant stock of foodgrains; there are incidents of starvation death. Now the government wants to push through a bill to snatch the rights of the working class. The bill was discussed neither in the standing committee of the labour ministry nor by the working class. After the second world war, whatever rights the working class earned in India and many countries was because of triumph of socialism over capitalism and Nazism. But the fall of Soviet Union in the early 90s has emboldened the capitalists to renew their attacks on the working class. In India the government says there would henceforth be no permanent workers, that all permanent jobs would be manned by temporary contract workers. Anybody can be thrown out of the factories at will. The hire and fire process has already started. Before the BJP-led government came to power, there was job security in public sector. Now, one after another, public sector units are being sold to private sector for a song.  They are selling the national assets. But the government would have to face the consequences, Roy warned.

REVENUE SHARING

In a special mention demanding a review of the sharing of revenues between the centre and states, Sunil Khan, CPI(M), said the union government’s fiscal policies have led to a massive financial crisis for state governments. The union takes away two-third share of the total taxes being collected throughout the country and distributes the rest among 28 states. As a result, state governments are unable to undertake development works in different sectors, like irrigation, roads, electricity, public health, education and so on. So far as West Bengal is concerned, the centre has not released its share for the project to save villages from river erosion. Adequate compensation for flood victims and restoration works has been denied. The union has also refused to share the financial burden arising due to implementation of the equivalent of Fifth Pay Commission’s recommendations. An embargo on overdraft has been imposed and 12 per cent interest is being charged on central loans, whereas the centre pays only 7 per cent on the loans taken from the market.

Khan then demanded immediate review of the centre-state financial relations. At least 50 per cent the tax the centre collects from states should be distributed among states. In the Inter-State Council, it was unanimously decided that 33.33 per cent share of the tax collected be distributed among the states till the time their share goes up to 50 per cent. Khan demanded that the government take immediate steps in this direction.

RAILWAY BUDGET

Both the houses discussed the rail budget this week. Speaking on the occasion, the CPI(M)’s Moinul Hassan described the rail budget as directionless and pointed to the dismal financial situation of the railways. A large number of projects are pending due to finance crunch. Though the government is using ‘safety and security’ as buzz words, as if it is really concerned about it, often there are rail accidents in the country. The immediate task is track renewal as the people have to travel on dangerous, accident-prone, over hundred years old rail lines. During the last 50 years, only about 9,000 km of rail tracks were added. Same is the case with bridges. There is no proper inspection of these things because of pathetic financial health of the railways. There is 3 per cent less passenger traffic; revenue losses are to the tune of Rs 720 crore. Big talks are on about technological upgradation, advancement and increase in facilities, but sans resource allocation.  There is need for electrification, increase in the speed of trains and renewal of rolling stock. Hassan wanted to know the present status of various projects in West Bengal, the third terminal in Chitpur, Shalimar project and the development of Belur and Calcutta. He demanded seven-day availability of Rajdhani Express from Howrah to New Delhi via Gaya.

Varkala Radhakrishnan, CPI(M), sharply reacted to the discrimination against  Kerala and other southern states. The funds allotted this year for ongoing works are insufficient. The provision for line doubling is unsatisfactory. There is no improvement regarding electrification. He demanded new level-crossing and foot-over bridges at Varkala, Chiryinkeezhil and Kazhakootam stations, stoppage of trains at Varkala, a day express at Chirayinkeezil, and augmentation in amenities.

Sandhya Bauri, CPI(M), pointed to the rise in minimum passenger fares for mail and express trains and said the major impact will be on the ordinary people. Compared to last year, the allocation this year has been cut in almost all fields. The number of rail accidents is up. She demanded early completion of Bishnupur-Tarkeshwar line, for which more allocation is necessary. She also demanded trains between Raniganj and Bankura, new lines from Bankura to Tata Nagar and from Bankura to Jhargram, and stoppage of Bhubaneswar Rajdhani at Bankura.

In Rajya Sabha, the CPI(M)’s Tarini Kanta Roy said the budget suffers from lack of direction. It is full of tall promises, but important issues like electrification, track renewal, gauge conversion, line doubling and construction of new lines have been ignored. In 2002-03, 374 km was the target for electrification; it has been reduced to 350 km this year and the allocation is only Rs 123 crore. Frequent accidents have adversely affected the passenger traffic. Roy concluded by demanding introduction of new trains on some lines, gauge conversion and early completion of projects.