People's Democracy

Subhas Ray

INSISTING on Natwar Singh’s resignation, the BJP disrupted the parliament’s functioning for several days in this session and once again forced adjournments of both the houses on December 5 and 6. But the party came under severe attack from the Left and the Congress for lowering the parliament’s dignity and seeking to use the Volcker issue as a distraction from its own inner crisis. The Left charged the NDA with stalling the proceedings without bringing any substantial issues for discussion. It reminded that even though the inquiry commission constituted by the NDA regime to probe the Tehelka tapes was to complete its work, Fernandes was taken back into the ministry. In Rajya Sabha, the CPI(M)’s Nilotpal Basu wondered why the BJP was not talking of Reliance that was one of the biggest non-contractual beneficiaries named by Volcker. Rajya Sabha chairman too chided the BJP members for not showing respect to the chair and added that there was no point in holding a sitting if a word given in the chamber was not kept.

In Lok Sabha, on December 6, the Babri demolition anniversary, the CPI(M)’s Basudeb Acharia demanded L K Advani’s arrest. After leading the game of demolishing the mosque, now the opposition leader is out to demolish Indian democracy, the CPI’s Gurudas Dasgupta added.

WTO MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE

Under intense pressure from the Left, the government was forced to clarify its stand on the sixth (Hong Kong) ministerial conference of WTO. On December 7, both the houses discussed this issue.

In Rajya Sabha, the CPI(M)’s Nilotpal Basu said this was the first time the house was having a discussion on the ministerial meeting regarding the GATT. In the last 10-15 years, the agreement on agriculture was not implemented; the government must see to it that agriculture came out of the WTO’s purview. The WTO and the MNCs cannot be allowed to dole out hunger and illness to our people. This will be the biggest crime against mankind, Basu warned. Though there are wide divergences on a large number of issues, especially in agriculture, we should seek convergence on them. It was believed that all the modalities on agriculture and other goods may not be agreed upon in Hong Kong and there may be the need of another ministerial meeting earlier next year to complete this stage of negotiations. He hoped that we would coordinate with the developing countries. Being a developing country, India has to be watchful in its negotiating tactics and rally the developing world together rather than forging certain issue-specific coalitions with some of the countries. The government has to take a position in favour of small and marginal farmers. In the draft released by the WTO, there is no mention of how and in what manner will the non-tariff barriers be reviewed and what the time schedule will be for their removal. Such questions are important. Another question, Basu pointed out, is of exclusion of patenting micro-organisms, non-biological and micro-biological processes.

In Lok Sabha, Rupchand Pal, CPI(M), said we should see as to how best we can meet the challenges. An equitable and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system is a distant goal in this unequal world. It was hoped that the Doha round would provide opportunities to the developing countries for poverty alleviation and other such measures. In reality, however, we find that commitments are being misinterpreted, confusion being created and developed countries systematically reneging on their promises. The minister has rightly commented that all this was disappointing. As for agriculture, at the centre stage is the issue of reduction in farm subsidy, domestic support and export subsidy, which the developed countries are evading in dubious and innovative ways, eg from Green Box to Blue Box and from Blue Box to somewhere else. We must seek clarification as to what this Green Box means. In any case, as they are reluctant to reduce their huge farm and export subsidies, agriculture in developing countries is likely to be ruined. On the other hand, developed countries are very aggressive on the issue of industrial tariff and services, Pal said. But within the WTO framework, we cannot reintroduce quantitative restrictions. As far as India is concerned, our agriculture is not commercial; it is our livelihood and our sustenance. As regards privatisation of water, we know how foreign companies can play havoc with the people’s life. So, Pal concluded, it should never be allowed.

FLOODS IN TAMILNADU

On December 7, Lok Sabha discussed a Calling Attention Motion on the damage caused by floods due to heavy rains in Tamilnadu and Karnataka. Participating in the discussion, the CPI(M)’s P Mohan said for ten days in this session he had tried to raise the issue of torrential rains and its havoc in Tamilnadu but was thwarted by non-issues like the Volcker report the BJP was harping upon. This shows the latter’s lack of concern about the people’s miseries. He urged the BJP members in the house to give priority to burning issues of the people --- at least from now on.

Mohan pointed out that 22 out of 30 districts in Tamilnadu were hit hard by four successive spells of incessant rain that caused great devastation in the state. More than one crore people were affected in many ways. About 20 lakh acres of cultivable land, including that in Cauvery delta, was inundated. Several residential colonies were marooned. The poor lost their ration cards that could enable them to buy essential commodities. Students lost their books. Many lost almost all their belongings and became helpless. Huge loss of lives and property was reported from a wide area. Mohan urged that the Tamil people’s sentiments must be assuaged by taking their cause at the national level.

Mohan asked whether the state government had given a detailed report on the calamity in Tamilnadu with an estimate of the losses, proposals for rehabilitation and relief, and how much financial assistance it had sought. His other query was about the long term and immediate measures taken by the centre. It was unfortunate that when the state had suffered a loss of about Rs 13,000 crore, it was given only paltry interim relief. He asked the minister to spell out the norms and guidelines with regard to the central assistance and to ensure that the victims and affected are really benefitted.

CASH CROP PRICES

In Lok Sabha, the CPI(M)’s P Karunakaran moved a Calling Attention Motion on the falling prices of pepper, cardamom, arecanut and other cash crops, leading to starvation deaths among those engaged in this sector. Moving the motion, he said the minister’s statement on the issue did not reflect the actual situation prevailing in agriculture or about cash crops in Kerala and other parts of the country.

Citing examples, the CPI(M) member said the wholesale price index never reflects the actual situation in retail prices. The price of pepper has come down from Rs 214 per kg in 2000 to Rs 74 in 2003. In case of tea, it was Rs 73 per kg in 1998 and Rs 50 per kg in 2002. About green tea, the situation is disastrous. In 1998, its price was only Rs 15 per kg and came down to Rs 6 in 2002. The price of coffee came down from Rs 137 per kg in 1995 to only Rs 17 in 2002. The price of cardamom was Rs 900 per kg five years ago and it is between Rs 120 and Rs 170 now. The arecanut price has come down from Rs 160 per kg three years ago to only Rs 40 or 45 now. This drastic fall in cash crop prices has severely affected some districts in Kerala, especially Vayanad, Idukki and Kasargod.

At the same time, however, the costs in other sectors like education and health are going up. Same with the costs of agricultural inputs like fertilisers, pesticides and even fodder, making cultivation difficult for farmers. They are forced to take loans to meet the cost of production. But whenever the margin of profit is negative, farmers inevitably fall into a debt trap that leads to suicides. This is an all-India phenomenon, not confined to Kerala. In the last three years, 1,300 farmers have committed suicide. Refuting the minister’s figures of suicide cases, Karunakaran said there were 476 cases in Vayanad district, 176 in Idukki and 180 in Kasargod.

Though this crisis of agriculture started in Kerala and other parts of the country around 1990, it has sharpened in the last five or six years. In Kerala, farmers got land through the land reforms of 1957 and their motivation regarding cultivation is higher than in areas where land reforms have not taken place. And now, WTO is the new culprit for the agrarian crisis in India, Kerala in particular, as our market has got flooded with crops from abroad. As India is a WTO member, it has to import many items. Earlier Portugal purchased black pepper from us, now pepper is coming from Sri Lanka. This includes the pepper from Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand etc being routed through Sri Lanka.

In this situation, the member said the government must ensure a special package for the farmers of cardamom, rubber, tea, pepper and other cash crops. Also, it must re-impose some restriction on these imports to save our farmers. He also said though the government announces support prices for 26 items, the list includes only copra from Kerala. The government must include in this list all the cash crops affected by WTO stipulations.

Suresh Kurup, CPI(M), drew attention to the fall in cardamom prices because of the dumping of huge quantities of cardamom from Nepal into India via Kolkata port. The government must take urgent steps to tackle this problem, he urged.

Varkala Radhakrishnan, CPI(M), said that in Kerala, the land of coconuts, there are starving about 25 lakh small coconut growers, courtesy the WTO, and similar is the plight of rubber growers. Several tea estates in Kerala have closed down. The economy of Kerala is in the doldrums. He asked the minister to give sufficient directions to the statutory bodies concerned with the development of these agricultural products.

OTHER ISSUES

In Lok Sabha, Swadesh Chakraborty of the CPI(M) demanded an amending bill on the Payment of Bonus Act 1965, saying a large number of employees and workers in private sector industries are deprived of bonus due to imposition of a limit through the 1965 act. Since the wages have somewhat increased with the increased cost of living, the ceiling on bonus too should be raised in tandem. He demanded enhancement of bonus eligibility norm from the present Rs 3,500 to Rs 7,500 in view of the continuous fall of rupee’s value.

The CPI(M)’s Basudeb Acharia in Lok Sabha and Dipankar Mukherjee and P Madhu in Rajya Sabha raised the issues relating to workers in unorganised sectors and the government’s decision in reducing the rate of interest on Employees Provident Fund (EPF). They said thousands of workers from unorganised sectors had thronged the capital to protest the government’s apathy and demanded enactment of a comprehensive legislation to safeguard their interests and social security rights. These members urged the government to introduce a bill in this regard. As regards the provident fund, they demanded restoration of 9.5 per cent interest rate. They pointed out that the rate of interest on EPF was first reduced from 12 to 9.5 per cent by NDA regime and now the UPA government has further reduced it to 8.5 per cent.

It was in the din on December 6 that the Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Bill 2005, to amend the Income Tax Act 1961, was introduced in Lok Sabha after it witnessed two quick adjournments in the forenoon. After lunch, the house passed the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill 2005 and the State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Bill 2004 sans any discussion.