People's Democracy

Subhas Ray

ON December 23, last day of its winter session, the parliament expelled 11 tainted members who were caught in the cash for query scandal, a majority of them from the BJP. Terming the Lok Sabha as a ‘kangaroo court’ here, BJP members walked out amid jeering from the treasury and Left benches.

BJP: PARTY WITH A DIFFERENCE (!?)

It is another thing that the BJP’s attitude in the other house was different. Rajya Sabha did not witness acrimony or disruption during the debate on the expulsion of tainted BJP member Chhatrapal Lodha. Anyhow, the BJP has indeed proved that it is "a party with a difference."

During the five hours long, contentious debate in Lok Sabha, BJP leader L K Advani termed the expulsion as "capital punishment."

Rising to support the motion moved by the leader of the house, the CPI(M)’s Basudeb Acharia said December 12 was a shameful day not only for the house but for the entire nation. He said the sole responsibility of those who represent the people should be to raise the problems of their people and the interest of the whole country. But a numb nation watched with shock and disbelief how our elected representatives were receiving money for raising questions in parliament.

EDUCATIONAL RESERVATIONS

Parliament passed this week an important bill, the 104th constitution amendment bill to provide for reservation for the SC, ST and OBC students in professional education. Suresh Kurup, Basudeb Barman, Sebastian Paul and P Mohan spoke on the subject from the CPI(M) side.

In his speech, Kurup strongly criticised the unbridled freedom enjoyed by private educational institutions, right from the primary stage to professional courses. He said in its recent judgement the Supreme Court categorically said the government could not implement its policy of reservation in an unaided educational institution, whether run by non-minorities or minorities. The apex court’s judgement was widely criticised by individuals, political parties and student organisations. But the 104th amendment bill can only partially address the problem created by the Supreme Court judgement. The court categorically said no capitation fee should be levied, but the hard reality is that one has to pay capitation fee to get admission to one such college. The court has also allowed these institutions to evolve a fee structure. But any professional educational institution in the country, whether aided or unaided, should be subject to social control even if it is run by a minority community. Education being an important social activity, it cannot be treated as a business. Providing reservation in educational institutions to the SC/ST and other weaker sections of the society is a national goal, Kurup reminded. No one should be under the impression that SC/ST students can afford to pay the fee charged by these institutions unless it is subsidised, as in Kerala. If the problems created by the judgement are to be resolved, the government should address the important aspect of fee structure in these private institutions and show the requisite will to rein in those indulging in commercialisation of education in the name of minority rights. He demanded that a separate bill dealing with all these aspects should be brought without delay.

Speaking on the bill, Basudeb Barman said that in the present era of privatisation and liberalisation, the importance of providing reservation for deprived classes, most of them being scheduled castes and tribes, not only in government and aided institutions by also in private institutions and enterprises need not be over-emphasised. It must be kept in mind that all institutions including the private ones benefit from government funds. Hence the private sector must abide by the policies and measures that are progressive. The poor and the weak must be involved in the decision making and implementation. The fact is that the number of seats available in the state maintained or aided institutions is decreasing in this era of privatisation, and increasing in the private unaided institutions every year. Hence, Barman said, reservation of seats in such institutions for the scheduled castes, tribes and other educationally backward classes is a must.

Sebastian Paul supported the bill, but also said the house should appeal to the minority institutions to have concern for the poor and the deprived. He reminded that the minority status of an institution is for protecting the rights of a minority and not to protect the vested interests of the leaders of that minority.

Reminding that the amendment is meant to protect the rights of the socially and educationally backward classes, P Mohan said aspects like capitation fee, exorbitant fees and autocratic functioning of certain minority institutions must be looked into. While education is in the concurrent list of the constitution, there is need to allow the states to have their say in this matter. He said some of the new crop of educational institutions, established by linguistic or religious minorities, are being run on a commercial basis. So it is all the more necessary to regulate such institutions and provide reservations to the SCs, STs and OBCs therein.

ATROCITIES ON WOMEN

On December 21, Rajya Sabha held a discussion on atrocities on women in the country, when Brinda Karat of the CPI(M) narrated her long experience as the leader of a leading organisation of women, viz AIDWA. She deeply condoled the death of a Bangalore BPO centre employee, Pratibha, who was raped and then murdered. She said a proper investigation, prosecution and required changes in the laws should be carried out to prevent the recurrence of such cases.

But the largest number of working women is, Brinda Karat said, in the unorganised sector --- sans any security. And the government has left this vital issue to employers. The fact is that today, in the new liberal (!) framework, a large number of women are victims of the worst kind of economic vulnerability. If a woman goes to the same contractor day in and day out and if she is sexually harassed, is it possible for her, when she knows that her job is dependent on him, to go and register a case against him?

Secondly, there is a huge increase in the incidents of violence against women, as a large number of women including minors are being raped and killed. Brinda asked: can there not be a central framework of guidelines as far as the eligibility of police and judicial officers are concerned? A section of the judiciary and a big section of the police force, primary agencies meant to bring justice to women, have failed in this task. If this failure continues, the situation of increasing violence is going to further worsen. The death penalty for criminals is no answer. The demand of the women’s organisations is to ensure a time-bound procedure.

There is another issue of concern, i e delay in investigation and prosecution, with more and more witnesses turning hostile. Apart from criminalisation of politics, a large number of sex scandals involving political people have shaken this country. If important people are convicted and jailed, it will send an important message to the country --- that all political parties are unanimous that nobody guilty of an atrocity against a woman would ever go scot-free. Brinda said there are certain groups of women who are particularly vulnerable to violence, including communal or caste-based violence. In Gujarat, the state’s home department gave a figure of 185 cases of violence against women and girls in the recent communal genocide, but only 11 cases were registered. Women have also to suffer because of religious edicts. If a woman is harassed, people say girls should be careful about what they wear. This attitude must change, she emphasised. We should make a commitment to the Indian women that our political agenda will include the important task of ensuring an enabling environment so that women can exercise their human rights and democratic rights as equal citizens of this country, she concluded.

AIRPORTS INFRASTRUCTURE

Lok Sabha held a discussion on December 20 on infrastructure improvement of airports, and Mohd Salim, Varkala Radhakrishnan and P Karunakaran participated in it from the CPI(M) side. Mohd Salim said we are likely to feel the necessity of having an exclusive budget for civil aviation in view of the growing air traffic. Even after so many years of independence, we have failed to realise the importance of airports. Till recently, the government treated the airports as real estate only. Whereas airports have been modernised in other countries, we lag far behind on this account. The question of safety, signals, take-off, landing and other facilities at airports need to be considered and a minimum of such facilities provided. Whatever buildings we have constructed at airports in the last 10 years are not as per the requirements. Congestion will be there if the government does not keep pace with the industrial, traffic and cargo growth. Decongesting the Delhi airport requires upgradation of the nearby airports. The planning of an airport should be based on the requirements of the next 50 years. Salim also asked the government to leave the airports in the hands of Airport Authority of India since none else has the experience to build and handle them. He said investible funds are there but one has to execute the plans in a credible way.

P Karunakaran and V Radhakrishnan deplored the condition of Calicut and Thiruvananthapuram airports in Kerala. There is no fuelling facility, no infrastructure development. The number of flights from Thiruvananthapurum has been considerably reduced. There is no improvement in the airport for the thousands of poor Kerala workers who fly everyday to the Gulf countries. They are not even provided buses. At Calicut Airport, in recent times, there were even agitations by passengers. The infrastructure is not at all adequate to meet the demands, Karunakaran reminded.

OTHER ISSUES

This week Rajya Sabha passed the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council Bill 2005 amid stiff resistance from CPI(M) members. Opposing the bill, P Madhu of the CPI(M) said that in view of the federal nature of Indian Union, Rajya Sabha has to be there to represent the views of different states. But there is no such need at the state level, and a legislative council is not really needed in any of the states. This body, involving extra expenditure, is kept alive in certain states only as a rehabilitation centre for the defeated and disgruntled politicians. It was because of such experience that the legislative council was abolished in Andhra Pradesh in 1985. For twenty years since then, the state did not face any difficulties without it, he reminded, asking what was the rationale behind the move to revive this body.

In Rajya Sabha, Tarini Kanta Roy of the CPI(M) expressed concern over the misappropriation of seamen’s provident fund. He said more than 30,000 seamen of this country, who regularly contribute to this fund, are now facing a disastrous situation due to misappropriation of a colossal amount of Rs 92.78 crore from it. The matter was detected in May 2002. But no concrete steps have been taken for recovering the misappropriated amount and to punish the culprits. Roy urged the government to take appropriate steps in this regard.

Earlier, on Monday, both houses were adjourned after paying homage to deceased power minister P M Sayeed.

December 25, 2005