People's Democracy

TAMILNADU

DYFI Conference Resolves to Expand

S P Rajendran

NEARLY ten thousands of youth chanted slogans against the anti-people policies and demanded ‘education for all; job for all’ in Nagercoil, the southern most town of the country, headquarters of Kanniyakumari district, at a rousing conclusion of the 14th Tamilnadu state conference of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI). The conference took place in Nagercoil from May 9 to 12, 2013, with 480 delegates including 60 young women from all districts attending it as representatives of about 10,53,000 young men and women members in the state. Having achieved a significant growth in membership from about 9,30,000 last year, the DYFI state conference discussed the ways to reach the rest of the youth in the state.

More than 80 lakhs of youth in Tamilnadu, who are registered in various employment exchanges, are waiting for a long to get some kind of employment. But the successive governments in the state did not respond to the growing unemployment issue. The conference resolutely rejected the claims of the government that the multinationals, which have entered in the state with a lot of facilities given by the government, would create thousands of new employment opportunities. The DYFI conference charged that the MNCs with not properly implementing or even blatantly violating various labour acts, minimum wages act etc. The conference noted that there are huge resources in the state for the development of industries and employment. The best rubber in the world is an immensely valuable resource of Kanniyakumari district, just as there are huge stocks of titanium and thorium in Thoothukudi district, of natural gas in Cauvery Delta, of the best kind of graphite in Sivaganga district, platinum in Arur, white platinum in Namakkal and lignite in Jayamkondan. For long the DYFI has been insisting that the government must to come forward to utilise these natural resources in order to create industries and jobs for the youth of the state.

The conference also reiterated the DYFI demand to implement the Sedhu Samudram project which is a lifeline for the Tamilnadu youth.

The conference was inaugurated by M B Rajesh, MP and president of the organisation on May 10 morning. Reception committee chairman A V Bellarmin gave a warm reception to the delegates; DYFI state president S Muthukannan presided over the inaugural session and state secretary R Velmurugan submitted his report on which a discussion was held, with 58 delegates including eight young women participating in it. SFI state secretary J Rajmohan and AIYF secretary Thirumalai greeted the conference.

Earlier, on May 9, the conference began with a colourful cultural festival, with former state secretary S Kannan presiding over the function. Special achievers in various fields, cine artists and writers including Sahitya Academy awardees Melanmai Ponnusamy, Su Venkatesan and D Selvaraj took art in it.

As a part of its proceedings, the conference felicitated the founding and former leaders of Tamilnadu DYFI --- K C Karunakaran, N Nanmaran, S P Agathiyalingam, D Ravindran, N Gunasekaran and S K Mahendran.

On the last day, the conference elected an 81 member state committee which in turn elected S Muthukannan as state president, R Velmurugan as state secretary and S Bala as treasurer. DYFI general secretary Abay Mukherjee made a special address in the concluding session, appealing the delegates to expand the organisation among all sections of the youth.

The huge rally at the end was addressed by T K Rangarajan, a member of the CPI(M) Central Committee, as well as by all-India and state level leaders of the DYFI.