Tuesday, March 31, 2009

[Marxistindia] third list of candidates

marxistindia
news from the cpi(m)

April 01, 2009

Press Release

Third List of Lok Sabha Seats Being

Contested By The CPI(M) And Candidates

1. Andhra Pradesh -- Araku (ST) -- candidate -- Dr. M Babu Rao

2. Andhra Pradesh -- Bhuvanagiri --candidate -- Nomula Narasimhaiah

3. Orissa -- Sundargarh -- candidate -- Salomi Minz (woman)


With this the total number of seats announced by the CPI(M) comes to 79.

end


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[Marxistindia] highlights of the pamphlet on health

marxistindia
news from the cpi(m)

AAM ADMI SUFFERS IN 'HIGH-GROWTH' INDIA

HEALTH SECTOR: TRAIL OF BROKEN PROMISES
Pamphlet released today by Nilotpal Basu, Member, Central Secretariat


The slogan of Health for All, continues to be a mirage in India.
Contrary to what was promised, the Congress-led government brazenly trod
the path of neoliberal reforms and continued the trends that were set in
motion in 1991. Today in India the health profile of our people has
deteriorated.

NRHM:The early conception of the NRHM emphasized population control, and
a few targeted interventions on child health. The CPI(M) championed the
cause of a comprehensive and universal public health programme. The
sustained pressure led to a reconceptualisation of the NRHM, with
introduction of measures to strengthen public health infrastructure.
However the NRHM continues to be plagued by problems of grossly
inadequate funding and of measurers that promote privatization under the
garb of "Public Private Partnerships" and introduction of "user fees".
The NRHM had envisaged expenditure of Rs. 55,000 crore per year by 2012
but for past 2-3 years it has stagnated at about Rs. 10,000-12,000 crore
per year. ASHA, the community health worker in the scheme, receives an
average allowance of 600 rupees. This is unjust and unsustainable.

Plummeting Financial Support To Public Health: The overall public
expenditure on health has stagnated at 0.9 per cent of GDP, among the
lowest in the world and ahead of only five countries—Burundi, Myanmar,
Pakistan, Sudan, and Cambodia. This belies the CMP commitment that: "The
UPA Government will raise public spending on health to at least 2-3 per
cent of the GDP over the next five years, with focus on primary
healthcare."


Immunization of Children: There has been very little improvement in
coverage of children by vaccination in the last five years under the
Universal Immunization Programme. 56 per cent of our children still do
not receive all the vaccines listed in the national programme. The
decision to close four vaccine producing units in the public sector, led
to rampant shortages of vaccines and rising costs. Under pressure from
the CPI(M), the Government gave an assurance that it would reverse this
decision.

full text is available at:

http://vote.cpim.org/sites/default/files/Health.pdf
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[Marxistindia] highlights of the pamphlet on education

marxistindia
news from the cpi(m)
March 31, 2009

AAM ADMI SUFFERS IN 'HIGH-GROWTH' INDIA

Highlights of the Pamphlet
EDUCATION: CONGRESS-LED GOVERNMENT FAILS THE TEST
(Released by Nilotpal Basu, Member, Central Secretariat)

An important issue which featured in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections was
rolling back the twin onslaught of communalization and commercialization
of education which the BJP-led regime had unleashed on the people of
this country.

Detoxification of Curriculum: While some measures for detoxification of
NCERT textbooks were taken, the mandate to CABE could not be fully
realised.

Budgetry Allocation : When the UPA took office the share of total
expenditure by the States and Centre on education in GDP was 2.67%
(2004-05). This figure increased to 3.08% in 2008-09, far from the CMP
promise of 6 % allocation of GDP. In fact state governments account for
a significant part of the increase.


Right To Education Bill : Thus the most required legislation for the
right to education was virtually scarped by the Government. This was a
grave injustice to the more than 380 million people denied literacy in
the country.


Commercialization Of Education: While private sector institutions
including the schools sector flourished, charging exorbitant fees,
government failed to any social legislations.


Cuts in Allocation: The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan saw a decline in
expenditure which went down from Rs 12,020.2 crore in 2007-08 to Rs
11,940 crore in 2008-09 and has been further decreased to Rs 11,933.9 in
this year's interim budget. A large number of teaching positions have
not been filled up on a regular basis. Instead, of lakhs of casual
teachers, like parateachers, are in place who get wages even less than
the minimum wage.

complete text available at the following link:

http://vote.cpim.org/sites/default/files/Education.pdf

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Monday, March 30, 2009

[Marxistindia] folders on women, dalits&tribals and disabled released today by Brinda Karat

marxistindia
news from the cpi(m)


March 30, 2009

AAM AADMI SUFFERS IN
'HIGH GROWTH' INDIA:
Highlights of
Folders on (1) Dalits &
Tribals, (2) Women (3)
Differently Abled

A. Dalits and Tribals

1.Dalits and Adivasis
together constitute 25%
of the population. Yet
governments headed by
the BJP and the Congress
have pursued neo-liberal
policies that
intensified their
problems.


Employment:

2.In its CMP, the
Congress-led Government
promised time-bound
filling up of all
reservation quotas,
through a new
Reservation Act and
reservation in the
private sector. Instead,
of the 1,70,000 posts
lying vacant in the
Railways alone, 32,600
SCs and STs posts are
not yet filled up. Over
13,000 vacancies in the
promotional quota were
denied on grounds of
'merit' and thousands of
jobs denied in direct
recruitment.

3.They buckled under
corporate pressure and
did not take forward the
assurance for
reservations in the
private sector.

4.The Government brought
a Bill to to dereserve
jobs in higher
educational
institutions, and exempt
47 institutions from
providing reservation in
scientific and technical
posts. This was stalled
by the Left and other
secular parties.

Land

5.Despite the CMP
promise no initiative
was taken for land
redistribution, and
Congress state
governments raised land
ceilings to benefit
private business and
encouraged take over of
land in Vth Schedule
areas by corporates.

Allocation

6.Despite a clear policy
mandate, 16% of the
expenditures was not
allocated for SCs,
restricted to less than
half of this in the Sub
Plan. In the Tribal Sub
Plan, the policy level
of 6% was not allocated,
remaining at just about
4% of the total plan
allocation.

Forest Rights

7.The Congress-led
Government initially
tabled a highly diluted
Bill to guarantee the
forest rights. The
CPI(M) played a central
role in strengthening
and enacting the
Schedule Tribes and
Other Traditional Forest
Dwellers (Recognition of
Forest Rights) Act,
2007. These include the
inclusion of non-tribal
traditional forest
dwellers; change in cut
off year from 1980 to
2005; increase in
ceiling on individual
land rights from 2.5 ha
to 4 ha; no relocation
without recognition of
rights in protected
areas; ensuring rights
over to MFP and women's
rights.

8.Even though the Act
has been passed the
Environment Ministry in
the Congress-led
government continues to
hand over forest land to
corporates for mining
and other projects
without consulting
tribals. In just five
years 5.73 lakh hectares
of such land was
diverted.

Atrocities


March
30, 2009

AAM
AADMI
SUFFERS
IN 'HIGH
GROWTH'
INDIA:
Highlights of
Folders
on (1)
Dalits &
Tribals,
(2)
Women
(3)
Differently Abled

A.
Dalits
and
Tribals

1.Dalits
and
Adivasis
together
constitute 25% of the population. Yet governments headed by the BJP and the Congress have pursued neo-liberal policies that intensified their problems.


Employment:

2.In its
CMP, the
Congress-led Government promised time-bound filling up of all reservation quotas, through a new Reservation Act and reservation in the private sector. Instead, of the 1,70,000 posts lying vacant in the Railways alone, 32,600 SCs and STs posts are not yet filled up. Over 13,000 vacancies in the promotional quota were denied on grounds of 'merit' and thousands of jobs denied in direct recruitment.

3.They
buckled
under
corporate pressure and did not take forward the assurance for reservations in the private sector.

4.The
Government brought a Bill to to dereserve jobs in higher educational institutions, and exempt 47 institutions from providing reservation in scientific and technical posts. This was stalled by the Left and other secular parties.

Land

5.Despite the CMP promise no initiative was taken for land redistribution, and Congress state governments raised land ceilings to benefit private business and encouraged take over of land in Vth Schedule areas by corporates.

Allocation

6.Despite a clear policy mandate, 16% of the expenditures was not allocated for SCs, restricted to less than half of this in the Sub Plan. In the Tribal Sub Plan, the policy level of 6% was not allocated, remaining at just about 4% of the total plan allocation.

Forest
Rights

7.The
Congress-led Government initially tabled a highly diluted Bill to guarantee the forest rights. The CPI(M) played a central role in strengthening and enacting the Schedule Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2007. These include the inclusion of non-tribal traditional forest dwellers; change in cut off year from 1980 to 2005; increase in ceiling on individual land rights from 2.5 ha to 4 ha; no relocation without recognition of rights in protected areas; ensuring rights over to MFP and women's rights.

8.Even
though
the Act
has been
passed
the
Environment Ministry in the Congress-led government continues to hand over forest land to corporates for mining and other projects without consulting tribals. In just five years 5.73 lakh hectares of such land was diverted.

Atrocities

9.Atrocities against adivasis and dalits went unchecked by the government. It was during the tenure of the UPA that the worst atrocities were committed against Dalits, like that of Khairlanji when a dalit woman and her three children were brutally killed.


B.
Women:
Litany
of
Broken
Promises


Legislation

1.The
Common
Minimum
Programme of the Congress led UPA Government proclaimed "to fully empower women politically, educationally, economically and legally"

2.Shamefully, the Women's Reservation Bill, pending for 12 years, introduced after four years in the Rajya Sabha, has not been passed.

3.The
government refused to enact comprehensive legislation on sexual assault covering minors as well in spite of the recommendations of the Law Commission and the National Commission of Women. Despite a 12-year old Supreme Court order, the Government did not enact a comprehensive Act to deal with sexual harassment at the workplace. Another long-pending legislation that was not enacted covers trafficking in women and minors.

Recession

4.Neo-liberal policies have hit women hard. The impact of the current global crisis will make thousands of women jobless. Already in some export-oriented industries like garments, thousands of women have been retrenched. However, the current stimulus and bailout packages completely by pass women workers.

SHGs

5.Despite more than 3 crore Self Help Groups in the country, the government refused to treat the credit needs of the SHGs as a priority sector and did not even lower interest rates to 4%.

C.
Differently Abled: Right to Live with Dignity


1.The
Congress-led government's slogan of "inclusive growth" rings hollow when seen in relation to the rights, needs and requirements of the disabled or differently abled population in India, even though constitute at least 6% of the population.

2.The
PWD Act
provisions 3% reservation in jobs in all government and public sector units for the disabled. The share of the disabled against the total strength in actual terms is barely 0.44% as against their estimated population of 5-6%.

3.With
much
fanfare,
the
Union
Finance
Minister, P. Chidambaram, announced a scheme of providing one lakh jobs per annum to persons with disabilities, with a proposed outlay of Rs. 1800 crore, during the Eleventh Plan, in the Union Budget 2006-07. However, Chidambaram himself admitted some time later that "not a single recruitment has been made six months after the Scheme was announced".

http://vote.cpim.org/sites/default/files/Women.pdf

http://vote.cpim.org/sites/default/files/dalits_tribals.pdf

http://vote.cpim.org/sites/default/files/Disabled.pdf


9.Atrocities against
adivasis and dalits went
unchecked by the
government. It was
during the tenure of the
UPA that the worst
atrocities were
committed against
Dalits, like that of
Khairlanji when a dalit
woman and her three
children were brutally
killed.


B. Women: Litany of
Broken Promises


Legislation

1.The Common Minimum
Programme of the
Congress led UPA
Government proclaimed
"to fully empower women
politically,
educationally,
economically and
legally"

2.Shamefully, the
Women's Reservation
Bill, pending for 12
years, introduced after
four years in the Rajya
Sabha, has not been
passed.

3.The government refused
to enact comprehensive
legislation on sexual
assault covering minors
as well in spite of the
recommendations of the
Law Commission and the
National Commission of
Women. Despite a 12-year
old Supreme Court order,
the Government did not
enact a comprehensive
Act to deal with sexual
harassment at the
workplace. Another
long-pending legislation
that was not enacted
covers trafficking in
women and minors.

Recession

4.Neo-liberal policies
have hit women hard. The
impact of the current
global crisis will make
thousands of women
jobless. Already in some
export-oriented
industries like
garments, thousands of
women have been
retrenched. However, the
current stimulus and
bailout packages
completely by pass women
workers.

SHGs

5.Despite more than 3
crore Self Help Groups
in the country, the
government refused to
treat the credit needs
of the SHGs as a
priority sector and did
not even lower interest
rates to 4%.

C. Differently Abled:
Right to Live with
Dignity


1.The Congress-led
government's slogan of
"inclusive growth" rings
hollow when seen in
relation to the rights,
needs and requirements
of the disabled or
differently abled
population in India,
even though constitute
at least 6% of the
population.

2.The PWD Act provisions
3% reservation in jobs
in all government and
public sector units for
the disabled. The share
of the disabled against
the total strength in
actual terms is barely
0.44% as against their
estimated population of
5-6%.

3.With much fanfare, the
Union Finance Minister,
P. Chidambaram,
announced a scheme of
providing one lakh jobs
per annum to persons
with disabilities, with
a proposed outlay of Rs.
1800 crore, during the
Eleventh Plan, in the
Union Budget 2006-07.
However, Chidambaram
himself admitted some
time later that "not a
single recruitment has
been made six months
after the Scheme was
announced".

http://vote.cpim.org/sites/default/files/Women.pdf

http://vote.cpim.org/sites/default/files/dalits_tribals.pdf

http://vote.cpim.org/sites/default/files/Disabled.pdf


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Saturday, March 28, 2009

[Marxistindia] highlights of the folder on foreign policy

marxistindia
news from the cpi(m)
March 29, 2009

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FOLDER ON

FOREIGN POLICY AND SECURITY ISSUES:

MAKING INDIA A JUNIOR PARTNER OF THE US

1. The NCMP had stated, "The UPA government will pursue an
independent foreign policy keeping in mind its past traditions.
This policy will seek to promote multi-polarity in world
relations and oppose all attempts at unilateralism…Even as it
pursues closer engagement and relations with the USA, the UPA
government will maintain the independence of India's foreign
policy position on all regional and global issues."

2. The Congress-led Government betrayed this and India is now
increasingly becoming a junior partner to the US. The growing
ties with Israel show how far India has moved from its support
to the Palestinian people against the brutal occupation by
Israel. Notably, this vision of allying India with the US and
Israel is a part of the Jana Sangh/RSS strategic thinking.

3. The Manmohan Singh-Bush Agreement in July 2005 was not just
another energy deal as the Congress-led government claimed. It
was the centrepiece of the strategy to draw India into the US
camp. It was followed immediately by India's two votes against
Iran in the IAEA, making India party to an anti-Iran gang-up.
The Congress-led government was willing to give up cheap gas
from Iran for the benefit of much more expensive nuclear power
from US-made nuclear reactors.

4. The Hyde Act, which was the basis of India-US Nuclear Deal made
clear that India's foreign policy must henceforth be "congruent"
to that of the US. It also imposed the condition that India must
align with the US on Iran's nuclear programme. India's record on
both these counts show the impact of the Hyde Act and the
Nuclear Deal on Indian foreign policy.

5. The public justification given for the deal was that it was
necessary to address India's need for energy. It is clear that
nuclear energy is not going to meet more than 5-6% of India's
energy needs. This is also what the Planning Commission has
projected in its Integrated Energy Plan. The CAG report has made
clear that the shortage of uranium – cited as a justification
for the deal – was entirely created by the government and not
due to a lack of uranium reserves in the country.


6. The CPI(M) and the Left not only brought out the complete
one-sided agreement that India was entering into with the US, it
also pointed out that the cost of power from imported nuclear
plants would be 3-4 times that from coal fired plants, or even
Indian nuclear plants. There is no fuel supply guarantee, the
agreement can be terminated at will by the US, thus holding
India to ransom, and imposes stringent terms on nuclear supplies
made to India. It also does not lift the sanctions on the high
technology sector in India.

end

the full text of the booklet is available at:

http://vote.cpim.org/sites/default/files/Foreign Policy.pdf

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[Marxistindia] highlights of pamphlet on Economic Crisis

marxistindia
news from the cpi(m)
March 28, 2009


HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PAMPHLET ON

THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS AND INDIA:

NEED FOR ALTERNATIVE PRO-PEOPLE POLICIES


1. The adverse impact of the crisis is being felt in India through
a downturn in industry and agriculture, massive job losses and
plummeting crop prices. This global crisis is the end result of
the imperialist globalisation process. The Congress, which had
embraced imperialist globalisation and the neoliberal free
market policies since 1991 and the BJP, which is also firmly
wedded to the policies of privatisation and liberalization,
cannot offer any credible solution to this crisis.


The current global economic crisis is the biggest in the capitalist
world since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The deepening of the
crisis has eventually caused a significant policy shift at the
international level. Public pressure forced the governments of
capitalist countries to partly nationalise the banks, abandoning
neoliberal policies.


1. The Congress-led UPA government has been on a denial mode
vis-à-vis the impact of the economic crisis on India, claiming
that the "fundamentals" are strong. This despite the hard facts
that GDP growth has fallen to 5.3% in the third quarter
(October-December 2008), with the agriculture and manufacturing
sectors witnessing negative growth rates of 2.2% and 0.2%
respectively. The response of the Congress-led government has
been grossly inadequate. The increase in Plan expenditure by a
meager Rs. 20,000 crore, (0.5% of GDP) is the fourth lowest
fiscal stimulus package in proportion to GDP among the G 20
countries. Even as it cited the constraints of an Interim
Budget, it doled out Rs. 30,000 crore in tax concessions to the
big corporates, without linking them to protecting the workers
from lay-offs and retrenchment.

2. With international oil prices falling to $45/barrel, the
government cut the prices of aviation turbine fuel eleven times
to bailout the private airlines; but petrol and diesel prices
were reduced only twice and cooking gas only once.

3. The Congress-led government underplayed the massive job losses
and pay cuts that are affecting workers and employees. At least
5 lakh workers lost their jobs during October-December, 2008.
Another one lakh jobs were lost in January 2009.The most
affected sectors were Gems & Jewellery, Transport and
Automobiles andTextiles. Even these shocking figures are gross
underestimates, since 4.13 lakh workers lost their jobs in the
diamond industry in Gujarat alone. If the organised and the
unorganised sectors are taken together, the magnitude of job
losses would run into crores.

1. It is yet to even acknowledge the serious situation arising out
of the plummeting prices of crops like cotton, rubber, coffee,
tea, coconut, copra and groundnut, wheat and maize. Huge inflows
of speculative finance into the commodity futures markets have
led to sharp increases in commodity prices. Following the
financial meltdown, prices are coming down even more sharply.

2. India's financial sector remained relatively immune from the
devastating financial meltdown, mainly due to the existing
regulations and public sector domination of the financial sector
in banking, insurance, pension funds, etc, which the CPI (M) and
the Left parties have struggled hard to defend by preventing
financial liberalization measures like the takeover of Indian
private banks by foreign banks, increase in FDI in the insurance
sector, privatization of Pension Funds, etc.

3. The stock market crash in India has occurred because of the
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) pulling out a whopping
Rs. 78800 crore since the beginning of the financial crisis,
causing the rupee to depreciate below Rs. 51 per dollar. This
demonstrates the volatility of speculative capital flows by
FIIs. Yet the Congress-led Government wanted to push capital
account convertibility, opposed by the CPI (M).

4. Learning little from the experience of the global meltdown, the
Congress-led government continued to push financial
liberalization measures. Restrictions on the Participatory Notes
(PNs) were removed in October 2008 despite Government's own
National Security Advisor saying that terrorists are using PNs
to invest in the Indian stock markets; In December 2008 it
introduced legislation to raise FDI cap in insurance; FDI
guidelines were clandestinely revised in February 2009 bypassing
Parliament to nullify foreign investment caps across all
sectors.

5. The Congress-led government violated its own NCMP which had
committed to reduce "the vulnerability of the financial system
to the flow of speculative capital" and tried to lure the FIIs
and other speculators through tax concessions and it failed to
plug the Mauritius route, through which FIIs and MNCs evade
Indian taxes.

6. The BJP's economic policies are no different from that of the
Congress. The CPI(M) had detailed a set of measures to tackle
the global economic crisis in November 2008. These included: (1)
Enhancing annual Plan expenditure to 10% of India's GDP
(currently it is below 5%). (2)Adopting specific relief packages
for crisis-affected sectors aimed mainly at the small and medium
enterprises; preventing job and pay cuts (3) Increasing public
investment in agriculture and irrigation; providing protection
against price crashes of crops through price support and
increased import tariffs. (4) Expanding the employment guarantee
to cover all adults and for as many days as demanded; extending
it to the urban areas. (5) Universalising the PDS and supplying
14 essential commodities at subsidised rates. (6) Providing
income tax relief for salaried employees, pensioners and senior
citizens; increasing taxes on speculators and the wealthy and
crackdown on black money. (7) Strongly regulating the financial
sector and strictly controlling the outflow and inflow of
speculative finance; maintaining predominant state control over
finance and revive development finance.


end

for the complete text of the pamphlet:

http://vote.cpim.org/sites/default/files/Global Crisis and India.pdf
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[Marxistindia] investigate Israeli Missile contract

marxistindia
news from the cpi(m)
March 28, 2009

Press Statement


The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued
the following statement:


Investigate the Israeli Missile Contract


The Rs. 10,000 crore missile production deal with an Israeli company,
the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), has now been exposed as a deal
involving massive kickbacks besides being an unnecessary contract. The
Left parties had asked in a letter to the Prime Minister in March 2008
that the $ 2.5 billion deal for developing a medium range surface to air
missile with the IAI should not be proceeded with in view of the fact
that the earlier Barak missile deal with the same company is being
investigated by the CBI for kickbacks. The Defence Minister replied to
this letter that if there is any impropriety or violation of law, action
would be taken (letters attached).


An investigative report by the DNA newspaper has exposed the fact that
the Israeli missile deal involves a "business charge" which is six per
cent of the total value (approximately Rs. 600 crore). This makes it a
scam of ten-fold magnitude compared to the Bofors Rs. 64 crore
kickbacks.


The Left parties had written to the Prime Minister again in February
2009 barely three weeks before the contract was signed once again urging
the government not to proceed with the deal (letter attached). The
reason cited was that the DRDO had already developed a missile system
which was superior to the one being offered by the IAI for
co-production. The letter also reiterated that IAI should have been
blacklisted just like the South African firm Denel which is also under
investigation for kickbacks .


Given the seriousness of the charges the government has to answer the
following questions:


1. The IAI had got the contract for the supply of Barak missile in 2000
during the NDA regime. The FIR lodged by the CBI in October 2006 names
IAI as an accused besides naming the Delhi-based arms dealer, Suresh
Nanda and other family members as agents of the Israeli firms IAI and
Rafael Corporation. Why was the IAI not embargoed from further supplies
till the case was disposed off?


2. Was the Government not aware that the Israeli authorities had
investigated the IAI for malpractices in contracts with other countries?
Such charges led to the head of the IAI stepping down in 2005.


3. Was the Ministry of Defence not aware that an Indian agent of the
Israeli company replaced by another petitioned the Israeli defence
ministry claiming additional commissions were due to him?


4. What does the Manmohan Singh government have to say about the DRDO
having developed and field proven its Advanced Air Defence (AAD) missile
capacity? Why was the DRDO compelled to enter into the so-called "joint
development" of the IAI air defence missile when it already has its own
superior AAD missile?


5. Was the Manmohan Singh government not aware of the fact that like in
the Barak missile deal, there are middlemen and intermediaries involved
who are being paid commissions/kickbacks? Was the government not aware
of identity of these agents?


6. How does the Manmohan Singh government explain the six per cent
"business charges" on the total value of the deal? Is this not contrary
to the stipulations against engagement of agents and payment of agency
commissions?


7. Why is it that the contract was signed on February 27, 2009 and the
fact was kept a secret? The information about the date of signing has
now become known from the IAI which has claimed that the Indian
government wanted the signing of the contract to be kept secret.


8. Why did the government get the contract signed on February 27, 2009,
just two days before the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections?


The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) demands that the missile contract with
the IAI be suspended and an investigation be ordered by the CBI into the
contract with the IAI which should be a follow up of the investigations
into the earlier Barak missile deal.

end of statement


annexures

Annexure1

March 17, 2008

Dr. Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister

Government of India


Dear Shri Manmohan Singhji,

We have been noting with growing concern the manner in which arms deals
with Israel are being conducted. Israel is already the second largest
supplier to India. It is now clear that Israeli arms manufacturers,
including government-owned entities, have been blatantly violating
Indian laws by using middle-men and by giving kickbacks to officials
involved in the decision-making process.


The scam surrounding India's acquisition of the Israeli Barak missile
systems manufactured by the state-owned Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI)
and Rafael corporations is the latest case in point. The original deal
for ship-mounted Barak systems worth about Rs.1300 crore struck in 2000
during the NDA regime was rife with procedural violations and outright
corruption as emerged during the Tehelka expose. CBI's FIR of October
2006 names IAI as an accused, besides naming Delhi-based arms dealer
Suresh Nanda and other family members as agents of the Israeli firms.
The recent CBI raids and consequent arrests of the Nandas and their
associates seem to have added more hard evidence.


Evidence has also emerged in Israel of the bribery and corruption,
including payments to agents in India, indulged in by IAI and Rafael. An
Indian agent replaced by another petitioned the Israeli Defence Ministry
claiming additional commissions due to him, and the matter has even been
referred to the Israeli Attorney General. All this has led to the arrest
and impending prosecution of Moshe Keretz, who headed IAI for 20 years
till 2005, and another agent whose name has been concealed under a gag
order of the Israeli authorities.

A. B. Bardhan

Genera

Regrettably, despite all this evidence, the UPA government has shown a
remarkable reluctance to take action against IAI, Rafael and other
Israeli arms companies. The Swedish firm Bofors was blacklisted after
the involvement of middle-men was proved in the notorious deal. The
South African firm Denel was similarly blacklisted in 2005 for resorting
to agents and kickbacks. But demands that similar action be initiated
against IAI and other Israeli firms have been ignored. Some high
authorities have bent over backwards to argue that the cases were not
similar in some unexplained manner.


To add insult to injury, the UPA government has further cemented the
alliance with IAI by signing a massive $2.5 billion (Rs.10,000 crore)
deal for co-development of more advanced Barak NG (new generation) and
Barak-8 missiles with longer range and for land-based anti-missile
applications. How can India proceed with this deal in the face of
evident wrong-doing by Israeli firms?


By turning a blind eye to systematic violation of Indian laws by Israeli
firms, India is sending out wrong signals to international arms
manufacturers at a time when India is embarking on huge overseas
military acquisitions, with the potential to corrupt and derail the
entire system. These developments also underline the importance of
self-reliance in defence production which has been given low priority of
late.


The Left parties urge the UPA Government to immediately take strong
action against the errant Israeli firms, and also ensure that the CBI
pursues the Barak scam case to its logical conclusion and brings all the
guilty to book.

Sd/-


Prakash Karat, General Secretary, CPI(M)
A. B. Bardhan, Secretary, CPI
Debabrata Biswas, General Secreatary, AIFB
T. J. Chandrachoodan, General Secretary, RSP


end of annexure I

Annexure II is letter from Shri A.K. Antony (soft copy not available)


Annexure 3

February 9, 2009

Shri Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister

Government of India

New Delhi

Dear Shri Manmohan Singhji,

We are writing to you regarding the contract for Air Defence Missile
Systems placed by the MoD on Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI). The
amount involved is around Rs. 10,000 crore for the supply of around 12
such systems. This is surprising considering that such a contract has
been given when IAI is already under investigation of the CBI on charges
of bribery and corruption for the anti-ship, ship-mounted Barak missile
system. We had brought this to your notice in our earlier letter dated
March 18, 2008 about the kickbacks and use of middleman in the Barak
deal, which are in violation of Indian laws. In the past India has
blacklisted firms such as Bofors, Sweden and Denel, South Africa for
similar cases of kickbacks and middleman.


The deal with IAI is also surprising on other counts. First, it involves
systems that have yet to be even developed by IAI, let alone
manufactured and test proven. Secondly, our Defense R & D Organisation
(DRDO) has already developedand repeatedly field proven DRDO's Advanced
Air Defense (AAD) missiles capacity. This missile is capable of
destroying incomingenemy missiles as well as aircraftwhereas aircraft
the proposedIAI missile can deal only with enemyaircraft. The DRDO (AAD)
missile is capable of intercepting even ballisticmissiles at altitudes
upto as high as 18 km. Thus the proposed missiles sought to be developed
by IAI appears to be inferior to the DRDO developed missiles AAD on the
counts of technical, cost and operational readiness.


Thirdly, to give a "cover" of indigenous involvement and content, DRDO
has been forcedto enter into a so-called "joint development" of the IAI
Air Defense Missile even when it already has its own superior AAD
missile!


This deal again brings out the unfortunate influence that Israeli arms
manufacturers including Government owned entities assert on India's arms
purchases. Nothing else can explain why IAI, which is seriously
implicated in corruption in India and in Israel, should be favoured in
this way.


We urge you to get the contract stopped and see that the DRDO's
indigenous missile programme is not subverted in this way.


Yours sincerely


Sd/-

(Prakash Karat), General Secretary, CPI(M)
(A. B. Bardhan), General Secretary, CPI


Copy to: Shri A. K. Antony, Minister for Defence, Govt. of India

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Friday, March 27, 2009

[Marxistindia] pamphlet on communalism released

marxistindia
news from the cpi(m)


March 27, 2009

DEFEAT THE COMMUNAL FORCES, UNITE AGAINST TERRORISM
(Highlights of the Pamphlet on "Defeat The Communal Forces, Unite
Against Terrorism"

1. The experience over the last five years has been that the
communal BJP-RSS combine still poses a grave threat to the
secular fabric of India. Even though the Congress-led government
came to power on a mandate against the communal forces, it
refused to take stringent action against them. Moreover, the
pursuance of neoliberal policies by the UPA has had an adverse
impact on the livelihood and the living conditions of the people
and this is bound to generate discontent and becomes fertile
breeding grounds for their communal politics.

2. In recent years there has been an intensified threat to the
security of the country and its citizens by various terrorist
forces and groups. It is essential to mobilize the Indian people
and strengthen their unity as a political counter to these
forces, apart from the administrative and other measures to be
taken. The CPI(M) holds that the fight against communalism and
terrorism are interlinked.

3. The BJP and its RSS cohorts made every effort to utilize the
levers of state power to push forward sectarian policies, often
backed by violence that targets minorities, as in Gujarat,
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, or where it was a
coalition partner in the government such as in Orissa. The
communal violence targeted at the minorities, both Christian and
Muslim. Throughout the country the BJP-RSS-VHP-Bajrang Dal
communal violence was orchestrated against the Muslims.

4. The communal poison which continues to be fed to students in
highly toxic textbooks in the BJP states is another case in
point. Academic institutions, writers and artistes have been a
special target of attack. Women and dalits are also targets of
the communal forces.

5. Even as the violence in Orissa and Karnataka continued unabated,
the Central Government did not have the political will or
initiative to uphold the rights of minorities, refusing to use
the constitutional provisions available to it and direct the
state government to take action against the guilty individuals
and organizations like the Bajrang Dal despite ample evidence.

6. Despite a Supreme Court directive to hold CBI enquiry into the
communal violence in Gujarat in 2002, the UPA has failed to
initiate concrete steps in this regard.

7. Be it the question of implementing the Sri Krishna Commission
Report or taking decisive action against the Bajrang Dal, the
Congress-led government has displayed a distinct lack of
political resolve against communalists.

8. The Hindutva brigade also practiced the worst form of
reactionary obscurantist vigilantism and moral policing in the
country. The anti-woman face of the Hindutva brigade was exposed
in the attack on young women in a pub in Mangalore by the Sri
Ram Sene (SRS) where women were brutally beaten up in the full
glare of the media and the BJP government in Karnataka remains a
mute spectator.

9. The BJP tried to incite communal passions on the Setu Samudram
project. While it was the BJP which first gave the green signal
to the project, it did an about turn as it suddenly realized
that the setu issue could fuel its communal agenda. Shamefully
the Congress-led government vacillated on the issue helping the
BJP keep the issue alive.

10. The series of terrorist attacks in the country shows that the
Congress-led government has failed to revitalize the
intelligence agencies and the security set-up to track down the
terror networks.

11. Instead of strengthening these basic requirements, the
government went for the option of strengthening the Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act. Shamefully, the Congress-led
government has brought back draconian and widely misused POTA
provisions like detention without bail for 180 days, three years
imprisonment for withholding information, etc., within the UAPA.
The CPI(M) and Left parties were the only parties in Parliament
to oppose such measures.

12. The double standards of the BJP on terrorism stand fully
exposed. While it has no compunction in ascribing all terrorist
activities to the Muslim community, it protects the Hindutva
extremists accused in the Malegaon blasts case by branding the
ATS investigation as prosecution of "Hindu religious figures".

13. The CPI(M) argues that there is a need to create an atmosphere
in our country where communalism cannot feed terrorism and
terrorism cannot be used as an instrument for communal
polarisation.


the full text of the pamphlet is available at:

http://vote.cpim.org/sites/default/files/communalism.pdf

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[Marxistindia] pamphlet on minorities released

marxistindia
news from the cpi(m)


March 27, 2009


Highlights of the Pamphlet on

IN DEFENCE OF THE RIGHTS OF MINORITIES


1. Religious minorities (Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists,
Zoroastrians) constitute 18.4 per cent of India's population.
Muslims are the largest minority at 13.4 per cent of the
country's population.

2. Lack of access to education and employment is a major source of
frustration for Muslim youth. Destruction of traditional crafts
and industries has hit their livelihood further. Muslim women
are the most exploited and have no protection. The condition and
well being of the minorities is a critical measure of the
functioning of our democracy.

3. The fight against the BJP and Hindutva communalism and the
defence of minorities remains a cornerstone of the CPI(M)'s
national policies, esp. as the Muslim community continues to be
the target of Hindu communalists

4. The Congress-led Government has been wavering and hesitant in
protecting the rights of the minorities and ensuring their
socio-economic development and adhering to the CMP on this.

5. Indiscriminate rounding up of innocent Muslim youth, detaining
and torturing them after terrorist violence has continued under
UPA rule. The case of 21 Muslim youth who were awarded
compensation for wrongful detainment and torture after the
Hyderabad bomb-blasts and the Batla House encounter are
examples.

6. The Congress-led government ignored even the recommendations of
its own commissions.

* The Sachar Committee Report has revealed the deplorable social
and economic status of Muslims and made a strong case for
boosting the community's share in jobs and educational
institutions. It has exposed the false propaganda of the BJP and
Sangh Parivar that the Muslims have been 'appeased'. However,
the Congress-led government's approach towards implementing the
Sachar Committee recommendations has been halfhearted and most
of the wide-ranging recommendations ignored

* The Ranganath Mishra Commission, in May 2007, recommended that
scheduled caste status be granted to dalit Christians and dalit
Muslims, but the government has failed to table the report in
Parliament. The National Commission for Minorities too made the
same recommendation.

* The Congress-led Government took no initiative to undertake the
long pending revision of OBC Muslim's list.

* The CMP assured that the UPA will "strive for recognition and
promotion of Urdu language". The Congress-led Government did
nothing in this regard.

* TThe National Minorities Commission demanded a 15% budgetary
sub-plan. However, the Congress-led government rejected this

1. The Ministry of Minority Affairs is allocated Rs 7,000 crore in
the 11th Plan. In 2008-09, it was Rs. 1,013.83 crore, 35 per
cent of which remained unutilized; Multi-Sectoral Development
Plan for minority-concentrated districts has only received Rs.
5.29 crore per district or 37 districts.

2. Priority Sector Lending to the minorities as a percentage of
total priority sector loans had decreased from 9.87 % in March
2003 to 9.67 % in March 2008, as against the targeted 15%.

3. Over three-and-a-half decades, the Central Government has
released a meager total grant-in-aid amounting to Rs. 33.16
crores to the Central Wakf Council.

4. In the Left-ruled states the CPI(M) is doing its utmost to
remove the gaps that exist. The government of West Bengal has a
15% state level budgetary sub-plan for the advancement of
minorities in the state since 2007. The government of Kerala has
adopted additional state-specific schemes in addition to
existing schemes. In Tripura a component of targeted gender
budgeting has been adopted to ensure that the benefit of all
schemes for the welfare of the Muslim minorities reaches Muslim
women. Kerala and West Bengal have the best record in terms of
access to land by Muslims through land reforms. 30.9% of the
rural households in West Bengal are Muslim households having
access to 25.6% of the total cultivated land in the state. In
Kerala, the Muslim households comprise 20% of the total rural
household having access of 16.7% of the total cultivated land.
Equity to Muslims was ensured through land reforms.

The full text of the pamphlet is available at:

http://vote.cpim.org/sites/default/files/minorities.pdf


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Wednesday, March 25, 2009

[Marxistindia] pamphlet on agriculture released

marxistindia
news from the cpi(m)
March 25, 2009


Highlights of the Pamphlet on Agriculture Released today by
S.Ramachandran Pillai and K Varadarajan, Members of CPI(M) Polit Bureau

What is the reality behind the tall claims being made by the Congress
leadership on UPA policies on Agriculture?


1. Claims of "High Growth" rate of 10% while growth rate in
agriculture is only around 2.4%. The situation is so bad that
the quarter ending in December 2008 shows negative growth of
-2.2% of Agricultural GDP for the Rabi season.

2. In the first 4 years of the UPA regime 69064 farmers have
committed suicide i.e., one farmer committed suicide every 30
minutes.

3. The Congress claims that under the Loan Waiver Scheme 36 million
farm households benefited. This does not even account for 50% of
the total indebted.

4. The UPA Government refused to implement crucial proposals of the
M.S.Swaminathan led National Commission of Farmers to reduce the
interest rates to 4% and for the universalisation of the Crop
Insurance Scheme under National Agriculture Insurance Scheme
(NAIS).

5. The rhetoric on increasing Public Investment in Agriculture is
not matched by outlays. The Prime Minister announced an
additional budgetary support of Rs.25,000 crore for agriculture
under the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, which implies additional
funds of only approximately only Rs.10 crore per year for the
600 odd districts in the country over the next five years.

6. Concerted efforts by the Congress-led Government to dilute and
subvert the NREGA were prevented by the CPI (M) and the Left
Parties. But for our efforts the Government proposals would have
made NREGA useless.

7. Against the interests of farmers the UPA Government has struck a
deal with global agribusinesses and has gone for the Indo-US
Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture Research and Education which
has Monsanto and Wal-Mart representatives as its Board members.

8. Farmers are not getting Remunerative Prices for their produce.
Not a single Support Price meets the cost of cultivation. All
crops are being cultivated at a loss to the cultivators varying
from 38% at the minimum to 50% at the maximum. The exception is
sugarcane where the loss is minimized at 12%.

9. UPA tried to pass the Land Acquisition Act Amendment Bill and
the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill on the last day of the
Parliament clandestinely. This would undermine the State and
people's right to determine land use policies, the right to fair
compensation, resettlement and rehabilitation. It was spirited
opposition by the CPI (M) and other Left Parties that stalled
the passage of the Bill.

10. Jobs in Agriculture are decreasing sharply. According to the
Economic Survey farm work was available merely for 57 days in a
year in this decade. According to latest NSSO surveys, 80.6
crores live on a per capita expenditure of Rs. 20 per day, of
whom 23.9 crore live on a per capita expenditure of only Rs 9
per day. Most of them are agricultural labourers.

for full text of the pamphlet

http://vote.cpim.org/sites/default/files/03%20Agriculture%
20composite.pdf

end


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[Marxistindia] Killing of CPI(M) Cadres in West Bengal

marxistindia
news from the cpi(m)
March 25, 2009


Press Statement


The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued
the following statement:


Condemn Killing of CPI(M) Cadres in West Bengal


The Trinamul Congress-Congress alliance backed by the Maoists has
unleashed a vicious campaign of terror and violence against the cadres
and workers of the CPI(M) after the announcement of the Lok Sabha
elections.


In the month of March upto now eight cadres and activists of the CPI(M)
have been brutally killed in various parts of West Bengal. Five comrades
were killed on a single day, March 18, in four separate incidents.


Sohrab Dewan in Raina and Bejoy Sahu in Titagarh of Burdwan district
were killed by Trimanul goons.


Gopal Mandal, Local Committee Secretary in East Behrampur, Murshidabad
was killed by Congress miscreants


Durga Deshwali, Local Committee member of the Party and Santosh Mahato
in Belpahari in West Midnapore district were shot dead by a Maoist gang.

On March 17, Ansar Ali was killed by TMC goons at village Patiram. On
the same day, the body of Himadri Patra, a staunch CPI(M) worker who had
been kidnapped, was found.


On March 12, Saiyad Ali Bhuinya, Zonal Committee member of the CPI(M)
was shot dead by Trinamul goons in Bankura.


These killings were preceded by seven murders of CPI(M) workers and
their family members in the month of February.


These targetted assassinations of CPI(M) cadres is part of a nefarious
design by the Trinamul Congress and its Maoist collaborators to create
terror and disrupt the CPI(M) and Left Front's election campaign and to
intimidate their supporters.


The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) denounces this violence resorted to by
the anti-Left opposition. The CPI(M) appeals to all democratic forces to
condemn these brutal attacks. The people of West Bengal will not be
cowed down by such violent tactics.


end


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Tuesday, March 24, 2009

[Marxistindia] Appeal by the Left parties

marxistindia
news from the cpi(m)
March 24, 2009


Appeal To The People By The Left Parties

The Left Parties – Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party
of India, All India Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party –
have decided to present before the people of India the joint Left
platform for the 15thLok Sabha elections.


Five years ago, after the 2004 general elections, the Left Parties
decided to extend support to the formation of the UPA government. We did
that keeping in mind the verdict of the people, which rejected the BJP
and its alliance. Though the Left Parties have some basic differences
with the Congress, we decided to extend support to keep the communal
forces at bay and in the expectation that the Congress-led government
will abide by its National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP).


Role of the Left


During the past five years, the Left Parties have played a consistent
role in defence of secularism and the economic interests of the people,
to protect national sovereignty and to oppose any strategic link up with
US imperialism.


In the four years that the Left supported the UPA government, it tried
to ensure that the pro-people measures contained in the NCMP are
implemented. Whether it be the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act,
or, the legislation for provision of land rights for tribal people in
the forest areas, or, ensuring an effective right to information
legislation – the Left endeavoured to see that these are taken up in
Parliament and adopted. The Left can rightfully claim that these three
pieces of legislations were improved and their scope expanded due to the
Left's intervention in Parliament and in the UPA-Left Coordination
Committee.


The Left Parties were vigilant to check the policies and measures, which
were formulated by the UPA government based on their neoliberal outlook.
The Left Parties worked in this period to protect the public sector from
moves like disinvestment of shares in the 'navaratna' companies like
BHEL. They halted some of the disinvestment in profitable public sector
units. The Left Parties pushed for revival of some of the loss-making
public sector units. The Left Parties consistently advocated for
increased public investment in agriculture; increasing the allocation
for education and health to reach the target set in the NCMP of 6 per
cent of the GDP and 2-3 per cent of the GDP respectively. The increased
allocations in education and health and some of the measures taken to
revive agriculture can be attributed to the constant pressure of the
Left Parties.


The Left Parties were firm in resisting all such measures which would
have harmed employment, livelihoods and those which would have eroded
national sovereignty. One important area in this regard was the
financial sector, which was sought to be further liberalized and opened
up to foreign capital. The Left opposed legislations on banking and
insurance, which would have given foreign capital a grip over these
vital sectors. The Left stood firmly against the pension funds of
government employees being privatized and invested in the stock markets.
This legislation not being passed has saved the hard-earned savings and
retirement benefits of lakhs of government employees. The recent
financial collapse in the West has led to the wiping out of billions of
dollars of pension funds, which were invested in the stock markets.


The Left stood against FDI in retail, as it would have led to the
displacement of lakhs of small shopkeepers and traders. The Left opposed
corporate entry in agriculture and demanded regulation of corporates in
retail trade.


Increasingly, the Manmohan Singh government acted on the basis of the
agenda of the Indo-US CEO Forum. This was an outcome of the strategic
alliance forged with the United States when the Prime Minister visited
Washington in July 2005. Pressure to change the course of independent
foreign policy, the military cooperation agreement, the Indo-US nuclear
deal and the US-dictated economic agenda taken together was a negation
of the NCMP put out by the UPA Government on which basis the Left had
supported the government.


When the Congress-led government decided to go ahead with the Indo-US
nuclear deal, disregarding the widespread opposition voiced by a
majority in Parliament and showed no urgency in addressing the serious
problems like price rise and the agrarian crisis, the Left Parties were
compelled to withdraw support.


The UPA government survived the vote of confidence by shameless resort
to large-scale money power being used to bribe, intimidate and purchase
members of Parliament.


Subsequently, the UPA government, in the remaining months of its tenure,
has shown both contempt for Parliament and sought to push ahead with
neo-liberal policies.


At a time when the global economic crisis has discredited the
neo-liberal model of finance-driven capitalism, the Congress-led
government has sought to further open up to foreign financial flows and
announced revised FDI guidelines which virtually allow backdoor entry of
foreign capital in all sectors. The manner in which the government is
handling the impact of the global crisis in our country displays its
class bias. There are bailouts for the big corporates and financial
speculators but nothing is being done for the lakhs of people who are
losing their jobs. The government ignores the fact that the crisis is
affecting agriculture and the peasantry.


The Left Parties have, while opposing the anti-people policies of the
UPA government, never relaxed its fight against the BJP and the communal
forces. The BJP, in the last five years when it has been in the
opposition, has proved that its core outlook is communal and its
character is defined by its link with the RSS. All across the country,
there has been the disturbing spectacle of attacks on minorities, both
Muslim and Christian. Kandhamal in Orissa and Mangalore in Karnataka are
the manifestations of attacks on the Christian community. The series of
incidents of communal violence in Vadodara, Aligarh, Gorakhpur, Mau,
Indore, Jabalpur, Bangalore and Dhulia were all targeting the Muslim
minority.


The BJP-run state governments protected and covered up such acts of
violence by the various Hindutva outfits. The least that the UPA
government could have done was to ban the Bajrang Dal, which was
involved in the barbarous violence in Kandhamal and Mangalore, but firm
action was not taken.


The Left Parties have consistently fought against the forces of majority
communalism politically, ideologically and organisationally. It has
shown determination not to allow minority communalism to succeed by
feeding on the fears and alienation of the minority community.


The Left Parties are clear that all forms of terrorist violence must be
firmly combated. Terrorism of domestic origin, or, with external links
seeks to disrupt our society and create communal divisions and harm the
democratic framework. The Left Parties have stressed that people must
unitedly fight terrorism whatever is its origin. At the same time, the
Left has opposed the efforts to pose the problem of terrorism from a
communal angle as the BJP does.


The Left Parties have been advocating alternative policies as against
the policies, which are in the interests of the big capitalists,
landlords, big contractors, foreign finance capital and multinational
companies.


Left Platform


The Left Parties platform consists of the following:


Defence of Secularism: Preventcommunal violence and ensure justice to
all riot victims; Act firmly against attacks on minorities, ban Bajrang
Dal; Promote secular values in education and culture; Combat terrorism
effectively; Revamp the intelligence machinery, modernizethe security
forces; Remove draconian provisions of anti-terror laws


Economic Policies: Increasestate intervention and undertake massive
public investment to generate employment in rural and urban areas and
develop agriculture, social sectors and infrastructure; Mobilise
resources by increasing taxes on the affluent sections and speculative
capital, removing tax concessions to corporates and launching a drive to
unearth black money; Scrap FRBM Act


Agriculture:Implement land and tenancy reforms; Expand MSP coverage to
more crops, ensure agricultural credit at a maximum 4% rate of interest,
expand public investment in power, irrigation, seed and fertiliser;
Protect biodiversity and the safeguarding of traditional knowledge
rights; increase tariff protection for cash crops

Food and PDS: Universal PDS to ensure food security; Providing all
essential commodities including sugar, pulses and edible oils through
the PDS; strengthening public procurement of foodgrains through FCI;
curb on private procurement and prohibition of futures trading in
essential commodities

Industry:Strengthen the public sector in the core and strategic areas;
Encouragement to small and medium enterprises in labour intensive
sectors, protection of traditional industries such as handloom, coir,
etc.; Prohibit FDI in Retail Trade, encouragement to small and
unorganised retailers; Review of FDI norms in sensitive sectors; Review
SEZ Act and Rules; Modernize mining companies in the public sector;
Increased public investment in infrastructure


Financial Sector: Maintain predominant state control over banking and
insurance sectors; strict controls on the outflow and inflow of finance
capital and discourage speculative finance; No privatization or
diversion of pension and provident funds to the stock market

Employment and Social Sector: Remove 100 days ceiling onthe NREGAand
extend it to urban areas; IncreasePublic expenditure on education to 6%
of GDP and on health to 3% of GDP, reverse privatization and
commercialization of education and healthcare; Ensure Right to
Education; Universalise ICDS


Rights of Working People: Increase minimum wages for all urban and rural
workers; Strict implementation of labour laws; Defend right to strike;
Universal social security for unorganised sector workers; Separate
social security legislation for agricultural labour; Waive farmers'
loans owed to private money-lenders; Universalisation of crop insurance;
Protect the rights of fishing communities

Social Justice: EnactWomen's Reservation Bill; Comprehensive law against
sexual harassment; Eradication of dowry and female feoticide;Provide
reservations for SC/STs in the private sector; clear backlogs in
reserved seats and posts for SC/STs; Properly implement the Scheduled
Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest
Rights) Act 2006; Expand welfare measures in the tribal areas; Formulate
a minority sub-plan to implement Sachar Committee recommendations;
Expedite development in the sphere of employment, education and health
in Muslim dominated districts; promote Urdu language and modernize
madarsa education

Foreign Policy: Pursue an independent and non-aligned foreign policy;
Review the 123 Agreement and Defence Framework Agreement with the US;
Resist discriminatory nuclear treaties like NPT and CTBT while pursuing
universal nuclear disarmament; promote multipolarity in world relations;
Strengthen the UN and democratize the Security Council; Promote SAARC
cooperation and coordinate efforts with South Asian countries to combat
terrorism and religious extremism; Pursue Iran-Pakistan-India gas
pipeline; Extend support to the Palestinian cause; Sever military and
security ties with Israel

In the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, we appeal to the people to
support the Left Parties and their alternative platform.


The Left has to be strengthened:


If secularism is to be firmly defended

If national sovereignty is to be protected

If a self-reliant economic path of development that is

balanced, equitable and just is to be attained

If social justice is to be rendered for the working

people, dalits, adivasis, women, minorities and all

oppressed sections of society

If the country is to emerge with a strong and

independent foreign policy


The Left Parties are working with the non-Congress, non-BJP parties, so
that after the elections, there can be an alternative secular
government, that will pursue pro-people policies.


Strengthening the Left and supporting its alternative platform will
ensure that the struggle for a new direction to policies will go ahead.

Strengthen the Left


For an alternative secular government


For pro-people policies


Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Communist Party of India
All India Forward Bloc
Revolutionary Socialist Party

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Monday, March 23, 2009

[Marxistindia] First campaign booklet released

marxistindia
news from the cpi(m)
March 23, 2009

Press Release

Comrade Brinda Karat, Member of the Polit Bureau today released the
first pamphlet in a series of 15 pamphlets/folders that the CPI(M) will
be bringing out in connection with the 15th Lok Sabha elections. The
highlights of the pamphlet on Price Rise, Hunger and Malnutrition are
given below.


One of the most striking failures of the Congress-led government has
been the inability to check the persistent rise in prices of food and
other essential commodities and ensure food security for our people.
Shamefully, the UPA government is now claiming great success in
controlling inflation, at a time when the entire global economy is
spiraling rapidly into recession. Inflation in prices of food articles
are 8% and foodgrains are 11% higher than a year ago, respectively. At
the retail level in Delhi between March 2008 and March 2009 sugar went
up by 47 per cent, tur by 31 per cent and onions by a whopping 111 per
cent. All this makes the slogan of Jai Ho sound hollow.


Endemic hunger continues to afflict a large proportion of the Indian
population. The International Food Policy Research Institute ranks India
66 out of the 88 developing countries. This is not surprising, since
latest NSS data show that 76 per cent of the total population has
inadequate calorie and food consumption. More than half of India's women
and three-quarters of children are anaemic and one in every three adult
Indian has chronic energy deficiency.


The obvious strategy to tackle hunger and malnutrition was to
universalize and strengthen the Public Distribution System, expand the
Anna Antodaya Yojana, act firmly against hoarders and black-marketers,
ban futures trading in essential items and food, etc. But the UPA
government did the exact opposite through its ill-conceived neo-liberal
food policy, which favoured agribusiness and private traders, belying
its promises to the aam aadmi.


1. It is shameful that today, even as the Government's granaries
are overflowing with a surplus stockholding 84 per cent above
buffer norms, kitchens of vast sections of our people remain
empty.

2. The Government cut allocations of food grains to the States by
325 lakh tones or by 73.4 per cent between 2006 and 2008, mainly
under the APL category.

3. Furthermore, there has been a cut in household quota for APL
from 35 kg per family per month to 20 kg.

4. It continued the policy of dividing and excluding the poor
through targeting: The Targeted PDS scheme in a predominantly
poor country like India means demarcating not between the rich
and the poor, but between different categories of the poor at
ridiculous destitution levels of Rs 11.80 per person per day for
rural and Rs. 17.80 per person per day.

5. Tardy expansion in Anna Antodaya YoIGHLIGHTS OF THE PAMPHLET ON
6.
7. PRICE RISE, HUNGER AND MALNUTRITION
8. jana beneficiaries by an average of just 10 lakhs a year

9. Concerted attempt to increase prices of foodgrain in the public
distribution system, prevented by the CPI(M)

10. Despite production not declining in this period, the Government
jeopardized self-reliance in food security by its import of 5.5
million tonnes of poor quality contaminated wheat from big
agri-business and traders in 2006 and 2007 at twice the price it
was prepared to pay to Indian farmers.

11. Pandering to the speculation and hoarding by big traders and
global and national agri-business, Parliamentary Committee's
recommendation to ban future trading in agricultural
commodities.

12. Cut down on food subsidies when a big increase was required.
During the UPA regime (2004-2009) the average share for food
security allocation on all Programmes has stayed below 1 % of
GDP (current prices), at a time when 16 countries increased
their subsidies from near zero to up to 2.7 per cent of GDP as a
response to higher food prices.

The pamphlet will shortly be available at the election campaign website
at: http://vote.cpim.org


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Saturday, March 21, 2009

[Marxistindia] Second List of Candidates

marxistindia
news from the cpi(m)
March 21, 2009


Press Release


We are herewith releasing the second list of candidates of the CPI(M)
for the 15th Lok Sabha elections. The first list contained names of
sixty seats and candidates. Sixteen more names are being announced
today.

Second List of Lok Sabha Seats To Be Contested By The CPI(M)

And Candidates

Sr.

State


No.


Constituency


Candidate

Karnataka


1


Dakshin
Kannada


B. Madhava*

Kerala


1


Kasargode


P. Karunakaran

2


Kannur


K. K. Ragesh *

3


Vadakara


P. Satheedevi
(W)

4


Kozhikode


Adv. Muhammed
Riyaz *

5


Malappuram


T. K. Hamza

6


Palakkad


M. B. Rajesh*

7


Alathur (SC)


P. K. Biju *

8


Chalakkudi


U. P. Joseph *

9


Ernakulam


Sindhu Joy (W)
*

10


Kottayam


Suresh Kurup

11


Alappuzha


Dr. K. S.
Manoj

12


Pathanamthitta


Ananthagopan *

13


Kollam


P. Rajendran

14


Attingal


A. Sampath

Lakshadweep


1


Lakshadweep


Lookmanul
Hakkim. M. K.*


* new candidates


In the first list we had already announced that the CPI(M) will be
putting up its candidate from Barpeta in Assam. The candidate is Durge
Deka.


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Friday, March 20, 2009

[Marxistindia] Home Minister's Meeting With CIA Chief

marxistindia
news from the cpi(m)
March 20, 2009


Press Statement


The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued
the following statement:


Home Minister's Meeting with CIA Chief


The meeting of the CIA Chief with the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram
marks a new stage in Indo-US collaboration. This is the first time that
an American CIA Chief has been accorded a meeting with the Union Home
Minister in India. Apart from meeting his intelligence counterparts in
India, the CIA Chief has been received at the political level,
signalling the new status of the CIA in India.


The CIA is notorious for its interventions in the political affairs of
various countries including destabilising governments considered
inimical to US interests.


This is a pointer of how things have changed under the Manmohan Singh
government. India is fast becoming like Pakistan where the CIA and FBI
Chiefs meet with the interior minister and Prime Minister.


The role being played by US security and military agencies in the
country and the manner in which the Congress-led government is promoting
such ties should be a matter of serious concern for all those who wish
to protect national sovereignty and the integrity of our democratic
system.

eom


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Thursday, March 19, 2009

[Marxistindia] cpi(m) election page launched

marxistindia
news from the cpi(m)
CPI (M) Election Campaign Website Launched

New Delhi, 18 March, 2009


Launching the election campaign website of the CPI (M) for the Lok Sabha
Elections, 2009, Comrade Sitaram Yechury, Polit Bureau Member of the Party
said:


This website is designed entirely using free software platform, Drupal. CPI
(M) has always been committed to promote Free Software, and the present
exercise testifies to our continued effort towards that objective.


The design of the site has also been done free of cost, on a voluntary
basis. Other parties like the BJP spend enormous amount of money for their
campaign on the Internet (lkadvani.in). One wonders if the Election
Commission is keeping a tab on that expenditure.

Our friends and wellwishers have helped us in designing and hosting this
site. In particular, we thank Comrades Srinivasan Ramani from Mumbai;
Unnikrishnan, Sudipto Nag from Kolkata and Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya from Kochi for their special efforts. The
Free Software team and the Research Unit of the CPI (M) have also
contributed.

Today, the Internet has emerged as an open ended medium which enables us to
reach out to a large number of our people, particularly the youth. Through
this campaign over the internet, we hope to reach out to them with our views
concerning issues in the forthcoming Lok Sabha Elections. Through the
website we will be able to carry our message across in an undistorted
manner, free from the control/censorship and biases of the corporate media.


Our website has several interactive features. Visitors can give
suggestions, ask questions and even join our campaign through the site. All
serious queries and suggestions would be responded within 24 hours.

We would appeal to the members and sympathisers of our Party across the
country to join the campaign group in our website and help us in making our
initiative a success.


Responding to questions from the media, Sitaram Yechury emphasized that the
CPI (M) has always believed in using technological advances to take forward
the issues of the people and promote meaninful public debates. The fact that
this is done through the website which will be hosted and maintained
completely free of cost makes the campaign of the CPI (M) distinct from
other political parties. Sitaram Yechury appealed to the youth, the
predominant users of the internet, to recognize that their future is shaped
by the politics of the day and therefore, it is important for them to
participate and engage with it.


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Sunday, March 15, 2009

[Marxistindia] CPI(M) Election Manifeto released

marxistindia
news from the cpi(m)
March 16, 2009


Highlights of the CPI (M) Manifesto for the 15th Lok Sabha Elections

Part I

The CPI (M) calls upon the Indian people to vote for strengthening the
Left and Democratic forces and for an alternative secular Government at
the Centre. Five years of the Congress-led government have been a major
disappointment for the people and a let down of the mandate of the 2004
Lok Sabha elections. The Congress party is committed to the policies of
liberalisation and privatisation, which today stand discredited in the
backdrop of the global economic crisis. These policies have proved
inimical to the interests of the workers, peasants, agricultural
workers, artisans, small entrepreneurs, women, students and youth. A
party which sees the future of India tied to the coattails of the United
States does not deserve to run the government of our sovereign
democratic republic.

The BJP represents the most reactionary force in the country. Its
six-year rule from 1998 to 2004 was marked by the pursuit of pro-rich
and communal policies. BJP's ideology is inimical to the concept of a
secular state. It wants to use the NDA as a cover for its Hindutva
politics. Through these five years, all it did as the major opposition
party was to raise various issues, including terrorism, from a communal
standpoint.

It is necessary that both the Congress and the BJP are defeated by the
people in the forthcoming elections. The country requires alternative
policies: pro-people economic policies; ensuring equity and social
justice; consistent secularism; genuine federalism; and an independent
foreign policy. The CPI (M) appeals to all democratic and secular forces
to support such alternative policies. For this, an alternative political
platform is required. The CPI (M) will work for the creation of a
non-Congress, non-BJP government that will strengthen democracy, ensure
equitable economic development and social justice.

Record of the Congress led Government

Five years of the Congress-led UPA government have widened inequalities
in society. The rich have become super-rich while the poor have been
further impoverished.

Callous Policies in Food and Agriculture:The agrarian crisis continues.
Suicides by farmers have not abated. The public distribution system has
been further enfeebled. The BPL category excludes large sections of the
poor. Allocations for the APL category have been drastically cut. Three
crore tonnes of foodgrains lie in the godowns but the government refuses
to undo the cut in the allocations to the states.

Failure to Check Price Rise:The people have suffered from continuous
price rise of all essential commodities. Even though the government
claims the rate of inflation has come down below 4 per cent, the prices
of food items continue to rise at above 10 per cent. The inability to
curb price rise has been one of the biggest failures of the Congress-led
government.

Favouring Big Corporates:The Manmohan Singh government promoted policies
favouring big corporates, both Indian and foreign. SEZs were designed to
help these interests grab large tracts of land and they were given a
bonanza of tax sops. The refusal to restore capital gains tax in the
stock market and stop the massive tax evasion through the Mauritius
route is meant to help Indian and foreign speculators to reap huge
profits. The backdoor entry of FDI in retail trade is jeopardizing the
livelihood of lakhs of small shopkeepers and traders.

Betrayal on Peoples' Rights: The rights of workers and employees have
been curtailed. The EPF rate of interest was reduced to 8.5%. The
Government has promoted contractualisation and casualisation of labour.
The UPA government went back on its commitment to implement one-third
reservations for women in the legislatures and parliament, as promised
in the CMP. The UPA government also failed to implement the main
recommendations of the Justice Sachar Committee, including the key
suggestion, of working out a sub-plan for the Muslim minority.

Failure to Protect People from the Global Economic Crisis:During the
last six months of the Congress-led government, the country has
experienced the adverse impact of the global economic crisis in the form
of massive job losses. The fiscal stimulus packages announced by the
government have been grossly inadequate and mainly aimed at providing
tax concessions to bail out big corporates. No measures have been
undertaken so far to protect workers from lay-offs and retrenchment or
to protect the peasantry from price crashes and import competition.

Danger of Communalism

The BJP-RSS combine and their many outfits have been fomenting communal
violence and targetting the minorities. In these last five years attacks
on Muslim minorities have taken place in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar
Pradesh. Kandhamal district in Orissa saw the worst violence against
Christians, with churches and houses being burnt and large scale attacks
on priests and nuns. In Karnataka, there were vicious attacks on
Christians in Mangalore, Davanagare and other places after the BJP
assumed office. The 2004 verdict against the BJP should have been
utilised to act firmly against all forms of communalism and their
regressive activities. The Centre should have cracked down on
organisations like the Bajrang Dal after the violence in Kandhamal and
elsewhere in the country. But it did not do so.

The politics and practice of the BJP represents distilled communalism
that can only weaken national unity. The BJP has come out against any
efforts to ameliorate the conditions of the 150 million Muslims in the
country as recommended in the Justice Sachar Report by branding it as
"minority appeasement". The BJP's stand on terrorism is equally
pernicious. It has no compunction in ascribing all terrorist activities
to the Muslim community. It refuses to accept that terrorism has diverse
sources. It has sought to protect the accused in the Malegaon blasts
case who are Hindutva extremists by branding the ATS investigation as
prosecution of "Hindu religious figures". The BJP's double standards on
terrorism stands fully exposed. The people of India cannot accept this
regressive, backward-looking party based on an obscurantist ideology to
run the Central government.

Terrorism

During the last five years, the country experienced a spate of terrorist
attacks, starting with the October 2005 serial blasts in Delhi. The
Central Government failed to tackle the problems of terrorism
adequately. Terrorism has diverse origins in India. There is terrorist
violence involving some extremist elements from the Muslim community. In
the recent period terrorist attacks like in Malegaon and certain earlier
blasts in Maharashtra were perpetrated by extremist Hindutva elements.
In the North-East, terrorist attacks by ULFA and the other ethnic
chauvinist groups have taken place. The CPI (M) has consistently
advocated firm steps to tackle the terrorist networks and elements
irrespective of their source or origin. As for the terrorist attacks
emanating from Pakistan, India should mobilise international opinion to
mount pressure on the Pakistan government to crack down on the terrorist
and extremist outfits there.

Foreign Policy

Strategic Alliance with the US:The biggest betrayal by the Manmohan
Singh government was to forge a strategic alliance with the United
States of America and to resile from the commitment to pursue an
independent foreign policy. The Congress-led government signed a
ten-year Defence Framework Agreement with the US for military
collaboration. In place of the CMP, the agenda of the Indo-US CEO Forum,
which recommended FDI in retail trade, insurance, banking, education,
etc., became the guiding light of the Manmohan Singh government. The
Manmohan Singh government has pursued the US-Israel-India axis, an idea
mooted by the BJP-led government. It has entered into deep security and
military collaboration with Israel. Israel has become the biggest
supplier of weapons to India.

Nuclear Deal:The Congress-led government signed the nuclear deal with
the US with conditions no self-respecting government should accept. The
Congress is propagating that the nuclear deal will result in electricity
being provided to all villages and homes. This is a cruel joke when the
cost of electricity from an imported nuclear plant will be Rs. 8 per
unit – far out of the reach of the common people.

The Left parties withdrew support from the UPA government on July 9,
2008 after the government decided to go ahead with the Indo-US nuclear
deal. The CPI (M) and the Left parties could not support a government,
which was so intent on acting at the behest of the US agenda for India
to the detriment of an independent foreign policy and strategic
autonomy.

Violation of Federalism

The Congress-led government has been insensitive to the rights of states
and failed to implement steps to devolve more powers and resources to
them despite the CMP commitment. Neither was the debt of states
substantially reduced nor was the share of the states in the divisible
pool of taxes enhanced. The UPA government violated the CMP in framing
the terms of reference for the 13th Finance Cmmission and the Commission
on Centre-State relations.

Corruption

The ruling alliance vitiated the parliamentary democratic system by
large-scale use of money, bribery and intimidation to purchase and
encourage defections from the opposition to win the vote of confidence
in July 2008. The government displayed complete contempt for Parliament
by extending the July 2008 special session till the end of December, and
doing away with the winter session altogether. Misuse of public
institutions and investigative agencies was also the norm under this
government.

The UPA government has presided over a massive telecom scam. It first
sold 2G licences to favoured companies. The companies then divested
their shares at huge profits. In the process, the exchequer lost at
least one lakh crore rupees. The government has refused to order a probe
into this massive scam. The Satyam-Maytas scandal is another shocking
example of how crony capitalism is leading to institutionalized
corruption.

Role of the CPI (M) and the Left

The CPI (M) and the Left acted as sentinels of the people's interests
vis-à-vis the UPA government. At least two major legislations – the
NREGA and the Tribal Forest Rights Act – would not have come about in
the present form without the CPI (M)'s intervention. The Left parties
made crucial interventions in improving the NREGA legislation, which
have proved to be of great benefit to the people. It was the sustained
intervention by the Left that led to the enactment of the Scheduled
Tribes and other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act.

The role played by the CPI (M) and the Left in the past five years led
to the protection of financial sector from the ravages of speculative
finance capital. The Left protected the banking sector by not allowing
the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act, which would have facilitated the
takeover of Indian private banks by foreign banks. The Left defended the
insurance sector by preventing any legislation to increase FDI in the
insurance sector. Pensions of lakhs of government employees were
protected by the Left's decision to oppose the PFRDA Bill, which would
have led to pension funds of government employees being privatized and
put in the stock market. Thus, it was because of the CPI (M) and the
Left that India could be saved from the worst impact of the global
financial crisis.

The CPI (M) and the Left firmly defended the public sector and national
sovereignty. The 'navaratna' PSUs was protected by the Left, which did
not agree to the disinvestment of shares in BHEL. To protect the
interests of lakhs of small shopkeepers and traders, and workers
employed by them, the Left opposed the opening up of the retail trade to
MNCs and prevented their full-fledged entry. To protect the farmers'
interests, the Left did not support the Seed Bill, which could not be
passed in the Parliament. To protect the integrity of the educational
sector, the Left stopped the passage of the Bill to allow foreign
educational institutions and universities to be set up in India. To
protect the interests of the working class, the Left prevented the
introduction of anti-labour laws.

Part II

The CPI (M) Platform

The CPI (M)'s role in the past five years speaks for itself. It has
intervened consistently in Parliament and elsewhere to defend the
interests and the livelihoods of the people, protect national
sovereignty, combat communalism, ensure social justice and fight against
growing imperialist penetration. The CPI (M) sets out the alternative
path for the country. This platform is based on the following
components:

Promoting Secularism

* Enacting a comprehensive law against communal violence; ensuring
speedy justice and adequate compensation to the victims of
communal violence like the Gujarat pogrom of 2002 and for the
implementation of the Justice Sri Krishna Commission report

* Reining in organisations and institutions involved in spreading
communal hate and attacking minorities through appropriate legal
measures

Alternative Economic Policies:

* Increasing annual Plan Expenditure amounting to 10% of India's
current GDP

* Halt further tax concessions to corporates; Launch a drive to
unearth black money, especially those stashed in Swiss Banks and
other off-shore tax havens

* Strong regulation of the financial sector, maintaining
predominant state control over finance and revival of
development finance

* Expanding MSP coverage to more crops, including oil seeds, other
cash crops and traditional staples; Reviving commodity boards to
set floor prices for commercial crops; Ensuring institutional
credit to the agricultural sector at a maximum 4% rate of
interest

* Reintroduction of the universal PDS and abandoning the targeted
PDS based on flawed poverty estimates; Supplying 14 essential
commodities including sugar, pulses and edible oils under the
PDS

* Reduction of retail prices of petrol and diesel by cutting the
customs and excise duties on oil

* Reversing the current thrust to dilute land-ceiling laws; Speedy
and comprehensive steps for implementing land reforms

* Strengthening and expansion of the public sector in the core and
strategic areas by injecting fresh capital and technology;
Complete halt to disinvestment and privatisation of
profit-making and potentially viable PSUs

* Protection of domestic industry from indiscriminate lowering of
import duties and takeover of existing Indian companies by
foreign companies; Encouragement to the private sector to invest
in manufacturing and services sectors

* Prohibition of FDI in Retail Trade; Regulation of domestic
corporate retailers through a licensing policy

* Reversing FDI guidelines to prevent backdoor entry of FDI;
Foreign capital to be channelled in areas based on need to build
productive capacities and acquire new technology

* Protecting Indian interests and that of the developing countries
in the ongoing Doha Round of WTO; no further tariff cuts in
agriculture and industrial goods

Strengthening Democracy and Federalism

* Amending Articles 355 and 356 to prevent their misuse

* Governors to be appointed by the President from a list of three
eminent persons suggested by the Chief Minister of a State

* Devolving 50% of the total pool of collection of Central taxes
to the States; Raising States' share of market borrowing to 50%

* A political solution to the Kashmir problem based on maximum
autonomy for the State based on the full scope of Article 370 of
the Constitution; autonomous set-up to be created with the
regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh being given regional
autonomy

* The North East to be declared a priority region for development;
Developing physical infrastructure and special employment
schemes for the youth; Border fencing to be completed
expeditiously

Against Terrorism

* Revamping the intelligence machinery and enhanced coordination
between security and intelligence agencies

* Modernisation of the Police forces; Strengthening of the coastal
security system

Independent Foreign Policy

* An independent and non-aligned foreign policy, which defends
India from imperialist pressures; Initiatives for South-South
cooperation and reviving the Non-Aligned Movement on a new basis

* Amending the Constitution to make legislative sanction mandatory
for any international treaty

* Diplomatic and political efforts to protect the lives of Tamil
people in the war zone in Sri Lanka; Working for an immediate
political settlement based on autonomy for the Tamil speaking
areas within the framework of a united Sri Lanka

* Building close ties with West Asian countries; pursue
Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline resisting US pressure

* Reviewing and reworking the 123 Agreement with the US for civil
nuclear cooperation to remove the harmful clauses; Pursuing
self-reliance in civilian nuclear energy based on domestic
uranium and thorium reserves

* Abrogating the Defence Framework Agreement with the US and
cessation of Indo-US joint military exercises

Peoples' Rights and Social Justice

Workers

* Ensuring strictest implementation of all labour laws including
the law on inter state migrant workers; discouraging
contractualisation and casualisation of work

* Improving the legislation on Unorganized Sector Workers and
implement the recommendations of the Standing Committee on
Labour in this regard; Special social security measures for
migrant workers and plantation workers

* Ensuring equal remuneration for women workers in all areas of
work; adopting social security measures for working women
including maternity benefits

* Safeguarding the right to organize, collective bargaining and
the right to strike for all workers, including government
employees; Enacting legislation to annul the Supreme Court
judgment prohibiting strikes

Peasantry

* Ensuring stable and remunerative crop prices; Protecting the
peasantry from falling world prices by increasing import tariffs

* Ensuring comprehensive loan waiver for distressed peasants
covering both institutional and private debt owed to
money-lenders

* Enacting a separate and comprehensive legislation for
agricultural workers to ensure minimum wages, the right to
bargain collectively and measures of social security such as
pensions, accident compensation etc. with central funding

Women and Children

* Enacting the Women's Reservation Bill to ensure one-third
reservation for women in the legislatures

* Enacting a comprehensive law against sexual violence including
against children; Legally recognize joint rights in matrimonial
property; Separate law against honour killings

* Undertaking as a National Mission the eradication of dowry and
female foeticide

* Universalizing the ICDS to cover all children in the 0 to 6
years age group; stopping privatization of the ICDS

Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs

* Ensuring stringent action against untouchability and atrocities
against Scheduled Castes

* Increasing allocations under the Special component Plan;
Launching a comprehensive National Programme of Minor Irrigation
for all un-irrigated lands of dalits and adivasis

* Extending reservation to dalit Christians and dalit Muslims

* Protecting land rights of adivasis and restoring land illegally
alienated from them

* Implementing the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest
Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006, in full;
Amending the Act to include traditional forest dwellers on a
more reasonable definition

* Ensuring proper implementation of 27% OBC reservation in Central
educational institutions; Extending OBC reservation to all
private educational institutions

Minorities

* Forming an Equal Opportunity Commission with adequate powers to
redress discrimination against minorities

* Formulating a sub-plan for the Muslim minorities on the lines of
the tribal sub-plan in order to implement Sachar Committee
recommendations; Special initiatives in the sphere of
employment, education and health to be undertaken targeting
districts where the Muslim population is concentrated

* Making public the Ranganath Mishra Commission report and ensure
full public debate; As an immediate measure all OBC Muslims
which form the vast majority of the Muslim community to be
included in the OBC quota with specific State wise allocations

Peoples' Welfare

* The employment guarantee to be extended to cover all adults and
for as many days as demanded; Employment guarantee to be
extended to the urban areas through the enactment of legislation

* Public expenditure on education to be 6% of GDP

* Enacting the Right to Education Bill; Central Government to
assume the major part of the financial commitment for its
implementation

* Enacting legislation to regulate fees, admissions and curricula
in private educational institutions

* Public expenditure on health to be raised to 5% of GDP

* Strengthening and expanding the public health system to
guarantee the delivery of all basic health services; Reversing
the trend of privatization of healthcare through PPPs

* Upgrading pensions of all categories of pensioners in consonance
with the cost of living; one-rank one-pension for ex-servicemen

Environment

* Undertaking steps to control emission of greenhouse gases
through energy efficient technologies and effective regulation;
Promoting solar and other non-conventional energy sources

* Checking pollution of rivers and other water bodies through
effective regulation

* A National Water Policy to be formulated to enhance water
availability for domestic use, irrigation and industry;
Provision of potable drinking water to all habitations to be
accorded priority

Science and Technology

* Enhancing public funding of indigenous research in science and
technology to promote self-reliance; Decentralization in funding
for R&D; Fundamental research in the sciences to be accorded
priority

* Promoting free software and other such new technologies, which
are free from monopoly ownership through copyrights or patents;
"knowledge commons" should be promoted across disciplines, like
biotechnology and drug discovery

Media and Culture

* All national languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the
Constitution to be equally encouraged and developed

* Promoting secular, progressive and democratic culture; attacks
on cultural personalities and productions by the communal forces
to be firmly dealt with

* Setting up of a Media Council which can act as an independent
regulatory authority for the media

Institutional Reforms

* Enacting the Lok Pal Bill to stop corruption at high places
including the Prime Minister, Members of Parliament and the
Judiciary

* A National Judicial Commission to be constituted as an
independent Constitutional body comprising of representatives
from judiciary, executive, legislature and bar for appointment,
transfer and dismissal of judges and to ensure judicial
accountability

* Members of the EC to be appointed by the President on the advice
of a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of
the Opposition and Chief Justice of Supreme Court

* Proportional representation with partial list system

* Effective steps to prohibit persons with criminal background
from contesting elections

* State funding in the form of material for recognized political
parties

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