People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
No.
52
December 27, 2009
|
Vol. XXXIII
No.
52 December 27, 2009 |
THE
WEEK IN PARLIAMENT
Subhas
Ray
BOTH the houses of parliament
faced
disruptions on December 16 on the price rise issue, with the Left and
other
parties pressing the government to take immediate steps to control the
soaring
prices of all essential commodities. Their demand for immediate
discussion on
this issue was turned down, with the chairs ruling that the issue had
already
been discussed. In Lok Sabha, the Left
walked
out in protest.
This issue and the contentious
Telangana issue led to uproarious scene in the house, leading to an
adjournment
for the day. In the melee, the house passed three bills. One of these
was the
National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second
Bill. The
National Rural Employment Guarantee (Amendment) Bill was to name the
scheme after
Mahatma Gandhi and make it mandatory for the states to pay Rs 100
minimum wage
to a person under it. The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill sought
to amend
the 1972 legislation�s definition of an employee so as to cover the
teachers in
private institutions with effect from 1997.
In Rajya Sabha, the opposition
led by CPI(M) forced a brief adjournment on price rise. Before raising
this
issue in the houses, the opposition barring the NDA members sat on a
dharna in
the Parliament House portico with posters to demand control on prices
and
universalisation of the public distribution system.
CANE
PRICES
Parliament has adopted the
Essential Commodities (Amendment and Validation) Bill 2009 with its
passage in
Rajya Sabha. From the CPI(M), Saidul Haque participated in the debate
in Lok
Sabha and Matilal Sarkar in Rajya Sabha. They said the bill was nothing
but a
step towards eventually decontrolling the sugar sector. It sought to
replace
the statutory minimum price (SMP) of sugarcane with a new category
called Fair
and Remunerative Price (FRP). It stated that if the state advised price
(SAP) exceeded
the FRP, the difference would be borne by the state, not by millowners.
This
meant a change in sugar policy but the parliament, state governments
and farmers�
organisations were not consulted. It is due to the government�s policy
that
cane farmers are switching over to other crops. Now the centre has
proposed a
�fair and remunerative price� of Rs 129.84 per quintal of cane. It is
nothing
but mockery. In the south, mills are already paying more than Rs 200
per
quintal.
The CPI(M) members also
recalled the recommendation made by the National Commission on Farmers,
headed
by Dr Swaminathan. It said the support price of any crop should be
fixed at C2
plus 50 per cent, i.e. double the production cost plus 50 per cent of
the cost
as margin. If we take this recommendation into account, the support
price of
cane per quintal should not be less than Rs 250.
The members also raised other
vital issues like non-payment of arrears by mills to the growers,
closure of
some mills, farmers withdrawing from cane cultivation in recent years,
fall in
sugar production in
BACKBREAKING
PRICE
ESCALATIONS
Rajya Sabha held a short
duration discussion on continuing rise in the prices of essential
commodities,
with Prasanta Chatterjee and Shyamal Chakraborty participating from the
CPI(M)
side. Chatterjee rejected the prime minister�s argument that the
current inflation
was due to external factors. He said according to IMF, the global
inflation,
which peaked at 6.27 per cent in July 2008, had come down to around 1.3
per
cent by August 2009, with the inflation rate in emerging economics
falling from
9 to 4.3 per cent in this period. However, in
The speakers said neo-liberal
policies have caused an agrarian crisis and are eroding
self-sufficiency. The
main reasons behind high inflation, especially the rising food prices,
are a weakening
of the PDS, increase in fuel prices and forward trading, while unabated
hoarding and speculation have added fuel to the fire. Big corporates
have been
allowed to enter the food market. There has been an increasing reliance
on
imports, often at exorbitant prices, erosion of self-reliance in food
production and failure to control rise in prices.
The rise in prices has become
a regular phenomenon, like flood and drought, Shyamal Chakraborty said.
The
anti-hoarding laws have been diluted, preventing the state governments
from arresting
and punishing the hoarders and black-marketers. Support prices are
being so fixed
that they are unable to compensate the production costs, but hoarders
are
paying more than the support price for an agricultural product. Talking
of the
administered hikes in water and water rates, fertiliser prices etc, he
said
these are having a cascading effect on the overall price situation.
On the other hand, the people
of our country are reeling under abject poverty and 77 per cent earn
below Rs 20
per day. Hence the demand for universalisation of PDS. If the
government covers
all essential commodities under the PDS at subsidised rates, prices in
the open
market can be compelled to go down, he concluded.
1984
RIOT
VICTIMS
Rajya Sabha held a discussion
on a calling attention motion on relief to the victims of 1984 riots
and the measures
taken to punish the guilty. On this occasion, Brinda Karat of the
CPI(M)
recalled the situation then prevailing in high security Teen Murti
area. A
leader of the CPI(M), late Comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet, then
received a
message from a security officer to leave his
As for the demand of justice,
Brinda Karat said, it is a cry in the wilderness. How many of the
culprits were
punished in these 25 years? Of the 72 police officers identified for
connivance
in the killing spree, 42 were in for immediate dismissal. But none was
dismissed; some were rather promoted. Some of these were exonerated due
to lack
of evidence. And now the powers that be are talking about closure of
the 1984 cases
without any punishment to the killers!
In this connection, the member
referred to what the then chief minister of
On the compensation issue, she
said it is no alms; it is a right. The victims of 1984 were mostly poor
workers, middle class and petty businessmen. But they got only Rs seven
lakh
each in Delhi, as against Rs 32.5 lakh each outside Delhi. Giving a
list of the
victim families, she said many of them are facing acute debt burdens.
Who will
wipe their tears, she asked. Demanding a
house to house survey on the condition of victim families, she insisted
on proper
compensation and punishment to the perpetrators of violence
irrespective of
their status.
On another occasion, Brinda
Karat raised the issue of revelations about the terrorist David
Hedley�s
antecedents and status of FBI�s cooperation with Indian intelligence
agencies. She
said some reports revealed that Headley, whose real name is Daood
Saleem
Gilani, was arrested in New York in 1997 for importing heroin into the
US but
was released later as he began to cooperate. Thus he became an agent
for US
Drug Enforcement Administration since 1999. Later he started working
for the
Lashkar and visited India in April 2009. Why were Indian intelligence
agencies
unaware of Headley�s visit? Why were Indian investigators being denied
access
to Headley? Did our prime minister raise the issue when he met the US
president
in Washington? The government must clarify these issues, she demanded.
OTHER
ISSUES
Lok Sabha has passed the
Supplementary
Demands for Grants (General) 2009-10. Rising to speak on the subject,
Banshagopal
Chowdhury, CPI(M), highlighted the point that actually the job loss due
to
recession is much more than what the government admits. The economy is
badly
suffering due to wage cuts and job losses in export oriented
industries. The
stimulus packages released from the exchequer have helped the
entrepreneurs
only, he added.
In course of his intervention,
Chowdhury talked of the gradually weakening role of the state to
facilitate the
interest of big corporates, inflation and price rise, and a host of
other
issues. He said in India taxes and duties accounted for nearly 50 and
25 per
cent of the rise in petrol and diesel prices respectively. Whether the
finance
minister is prepared to lighten the burden of these taxes and duties to
benefit
the general public, he asked. The so-called resources mobilisation from
PSU disinvestment
and privatisation is but a largesse to the capitalists. Resources, he
said,
need to be generated through more direct tax collection from the rich
and collections
from defaulters.
During the Rajya Sabha
discussion
on the Appropriation (No 4) Bill 2009, Mohd Amin of the CPI(M) objected
to the finance
and taxation policies of the government. He said the government talks
of the common
man but serves the capitalists. While giving the latter billions of
rupees in tax
bonanzas, it says it has no money for the people. This hoax is inbuilt
in
capitalism. He recalled how the big leaders of the Congress once
promised to distributes
land among the peasantry, adding that now they do not even talk of land
reforms.
If only they had implemented radical land reforms, much of the present
economic
crisis would have been mitigated. Peasants could have money and their
purchasing power could increase, giving boost to factories, increasing
employment
and thus leading the nation to prosperity. In the absence of land
reforms, now
the factories are being closed.
During his intervention, Mohd
Amin also raised issues like rising prices, mess in the PDS, growing
misery,
peasant suicides, and several other issues.
In the same house, Tapan Kumar
Sen, CPI(M), raised the issue of countrywide protest and demonstrations
by central
trade unions against price rise and the government�s inaction on this
issue. Talking
of the stimulus packages for the corporates and ongoing retrenchments
of
workers in the name of recession, he said it is deplorable that the
government gave
Rs 4,20,000 crore concession to the corporates in the name of tax
relief, while
it is refusing to spend only 70,000 crore per annum to contain the
price rise. The
rulers are also refusing to slam a ban on speculation in commodities,
which is
responsible for this backbreaking price rise. If the government does
not act, people
will be compelled to go in for further action, he warned. He urged the
government
to effect complete reversal of the policy direction in order to contain
price
rise, ban speculation in commodities, universalise the PDS and ensure
total
implementation of labour laws.
Rajya Sabha has passed the
Competition (Amendment) Bill 2009. From the CPI(M) side, P Rajeeve and
Moinul
Hassan said the bill would transfer cases from the MRTP Commission to
the
Competition Appellate Tribunal that will actually have the appellate
jurisdiction only. In the MRTP Act, there was no fee for filing an
application,
which enabled several organisations and individuals to approach the
commission
for remedy. But, with the lowest fee of Rs 50,000, the new act curtails
such
rights of consumers and petitioners. The Competition Act 2007 had
removed the
provision for setting up regional benches also. There are no provisions
to
appoint part time members for speedy disposal of cases. Now the
government is
opening up all sectors for private monopolies; small retailers are
being thrown
out. But the commission is silent. In Europe and other parts of the
world,
besides hefty fines, jail sentences were awarded to the companies which
are
found violating the competition norms. But in our country, fine is the
maximum
punishment in the latest bill. It is time we control the monopolies and
ensure
fair competition. The members also demanded measures for speedy
disposal of the
pending cases and a new act to protect the country�s interest.
On the National Rural
Employment Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2009, Brinda Karat reminded the
Rajya
Sabha that the earlier UPA government had passed the law with support
from the Left.
It was for the people�s right to life. On the finance minister�s
assurance that
wages would be increased to Rs 100 and real wages given, she said there
are 20 states
where the wages are at present less than Rs 100. Now that the
government has decided
to raise the wages, it should not be reduced wherever it is already
above Rs 100.
On the schedule of rates, she said no independent measurement is being
conducted of women�s work that must be paid at a separate time rate. We
must also
reduce their workload. There must be no compromise on the schedule of
rates and
the wages under NREGA, she emphasised, also demanding that the
conditions like only
one member from a family or of 100 days work must be abolished. Works
of
regular cultivation must not be brought under the NREGA. The scheme
relating to
re-plantation on the plots of small and marginal farmers must be
included.
Lok Sabha adjourned sine
die on December 18, three days
before the schedule. This unusual winding up of the winter session was
due to
the pressure from a UPA partner. TMC members vociferously interrupted
the
discussion initiated by Basudeb Acharia on the Maoist attacks, and the
house
was abruptly declared closed. Before that, some bills --- viz the
Commercial
Division of High Courts Bill, Civil Defence (Amendment) Bill, Salaries
and
Allowances of Ministers (Amendment) Bill, Trade Marks (Amendment) Bill
and Legal
Metrology Bill --- were passed by voice vote in the melee.
