ML UPDATE 44/2010

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol. 13, No. 44, 26 OCT – 01 NOV 2010

Comrade Ram Naresh Ram is no more

Veteran leader of historic struggles in Bhojpur, Central Committee Member and leader of the CPI(ML)'s legislative group in the Bihar Assembly from 1995-2010, Comrade Ram Naresh Ram passed away around 4 pm in PMCH, Patna, where he had been in a coma and battling a cerebral stroke for the past several days. 87-year old Comrade Ram Naresh Ram, popularly known as 'Parasji,' is among the tallest leaders of the revolutionary struggle and is an icon for the downtrodden and oppressed people, not only of Bhojpur and Bihar but the whole country.

 

Hailing from a dalit family of Shahabad (Bhojpur) region in Bihar, he became a full-time communist organizer in the 1940s, participating actively in the freedom struggle as an activist of the undivided CPI. When the CPI(M) was formed in 1964, he became one of its founding members in the Shahabad region. In 1967, he was elected mukhiya and then contested the Assembly election, during which Comrade Jagdish 'Master' was brutally attacked and Comrade Ram Naresh Ram himself was imprisoned by feudal goons. Inspired by the Naxalbari struggle, he became one of the founders of the CPI(ML) movement in Bihar, along with other legendary leaders like Jagdish 'Master.'

 

In the 1980s, he was the Secretary of the Bihar unit of the CPI(ML). Ever since 1995, he consistently represented the CPI(ML) in the Bihar Assembly, and was the leader of the party's legislative group. In 2003, when the founding conference of the All India Agricultural Labourers' Association (AIALA) was held in Ara, he was elected the founding President of the AIALA.

 

Sahajanand Saraswati galvanized the peasantry of central Bihar in militant anti-feudal and anti-colonial struggles during the pre-Independence period; Comrade Ram Naresh Ram played a comparable role along with others like Jagdish 'Master' in galvanizing the rural poor in the post-Independence period in anti-feudal and anti-imperialist struggles.

 

Comrade Ram Naresh Ram had a deep sense of respect for the legacy of the First War of Indian Independence of 1857 as well as for the freedom struggle. As a legislator, he had had a memorial to the 12 peasant martyrs of 1942 constructed at Lasarhi village in Bhojpur.

 

In his simplicity and his life-long organic link with people's struggles, combining both parliamentary and extra-parliamentary struggles, he was a model for communist parliamentarians and people's representatives.

He is abiding legacy will inspire the entire communist movement and the struggles of the oppressed for time to come.

 

Red Salute to 'Parasji'!

 

 

Organise Country-wide Protests during Barack Obama's India Visit

(In lieu of Editorial)

 

 US President Barack Obama's forthcoming visit to India this November will inaugurate a new chapter in the 'strategic partnership' between US imperialism and India's ruling class. As people of India, let us examine the interests that the US President represents and the implications of his visit for India.

 

Barack Obama became President of the United States because he represented, for the people of the US as well of the world, a promise of 'change' – change from the imperialist policies of the Bush regime that had imposed wars, occupation, and economic crisis on the world.

 

Two years later, both in the US as well as elsewhere in the world, that promise stands belied. Obama's regime has represented 'continuity' rather than 'change' with the policies of US imperialism and war-mongering. Any 'change' has remained cosmetic. Obama colluded in suppressing the UN's Goldstone Report indicting Israel for war crimes in Gaza. In the name of ending the occupation of Iraq, Obama has actually renamed 50, 000 US troops in Iraq as 'advise-and-assist brigades' rather than combat troops. The US war in Afghanistan continues unabated. And there has been no change whatsoever in the policies of US imperialism that force a grave economic crisis on the people of the world.

 

As Manmohan Singh's UPA-II Government rolls out the red carpet for US President Barack Obama this November, we will one again hear the familiar claims – that India's 'special' relationship with the US is a matter of pride and that being part of the US' strategic embrace protects India's economic and security interests. But bitter experience has taught us better.

 

It has been revealed recently that the US had information of the Mumbai terror attacks' mastermind David Headley's links with terrorist outfits as well of his plans to target Indian cities, but did not share the same with India. Not only that, the US is even now keeping its own secrets by protecting Headley from facing trial in India. In the Bhopal gas tragedy, we saw how India's rulers obliged the US by failing to make corporations like Union Carbide and Dow face the criminal consequences or even pay damages. The Indo-US Nuke Deal is designed to keep a US leash on India's foreign policy and increase India's dependence on the US, while the recently passed Nuke Liability Bill is scripted to protect the interests of the US nuclear industry. The Indo-US Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture and 'Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative' are all increasing the US stranglehold over India's self-reliance in education and agriculture.

 

Obama's visit to India will undoubtedly serve US interests in many ways – by further prising open key sectors of the Indian economy for US investment; by expanding the Indian market for the US military-industrial complex; and by further binding India to the US' imperialist strategies in the world. For the mass of Indian people, however, it is clear that India's growing ties with the US are inviting economic crisis and terrorism on Indian soil, and shamefully shackling India's independence and self-reliance to imperialist interests.

 

Barack Obama is coming to our country as the intelligent, democratic face of US imperialism; let all who stand for peace, justice and sovereignty greet him with protests all over the country with a loud welcome message:

 

US Imperialism Keep off from India, Keep Off from Asia!

Asia is not for US Meddling and Occupation!

Stop Outsourcing War, Terror, and Economic Crisis!

CPI(ML) Liberation

CPM Punjab

Left Coordination Committee (Kerala)

Lal Nishan Party (Leninist)

For All India Left Coordination

 

 

US hands off India, hands off Asia!

(Background Note prepared by Arindam Sen for the protests during Obama's India visit)

Barack Obama's journey to India in the first week of November promises to be remarkable on several counts. Not all US Presidents visited India; those who did came here only in their second terms in office. Obama will be coming here before completing his second year in the White House and the trip is expected to cover full four or five days – the longest on record. Generally speaking this is a measure of India's enhanced importance in the American dream of world domination. But perhaps more important are the current context and the immediate concerns on both sides.

 

Right on the eve of Presidential trip, the CNAS (Centre for a New American Security), a think tank headed by Richard Armitage and Nicholas Burns -- both former Deputy Secretaries of State under George Bush Junior and key architects of the Indo-US Nuclear Deal – brought out a paper titled "Natural Allies: A Blueprint for the Future of U.S.-India Relations". Referring to the "rapid expansion of ties" during particularly the Bush years, the paper laments that now this progress has stalled. "Past projects remain incomplete, few new ideas have been embraced by both sides, and the forward momentum … has subsided" – the paper observes, adding "it is critical to rejuvenate the U.S.-India partnership and put U.S. relations with India on a more solid foundation."

 

How does the Democratic administration propose to respond to this Republican pressure?

 

According to an official statement from the White House, the visit will focus on the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, bilateral business ties and the world economy. It is easy to guess that the second item would dominate the agenda, since this is crucial both for a recession-hit and debt-burdened US and for an India betting on an outward-looking rather than domestic demand-driven strategy of growth. The two sides will therefore focus on issues such as the easing of high-tech exports to India by removing Indian firms from the banned entities list, which is mainly a fallout of New Delhi not signing the NNPT and other security-related technology transfer agreements like CISMOA (Communications and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement) and BECA (Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement). If some success is achieved on this front, that will be used to project the visit as "historic". The principal beneficiaries will of course be the corporate lobbies in both countries – particularly the military-industrial complex in the US. Firms like Boeing and Lockheed Martin Corp. expect to sell military-transport aircrafts, military jet engines, freight locomotives, reconnaissance aircrafts and other items worth tens of billions of dollars. As for the Indian establishment, it will be only too happy to show off its commitment to "national security" with the newly acquired state-of-the-art defence equipments and technologies.

 

Apart from the huge profits to be made from the sale of military hardware, arming India to the teeth is important for Washington also as part of its China containment policy. In the recent past, China-US relations took some severe beatings on issues like arms sale to Taiwan and Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama while the perpetually simmering tensions in the Sino-Indian relations were also aggravated on more occasions than one. Naturally the Indian Government is a very willing accomplice in the American scheme of promoting "the world's biggest democracy" as a counterweight to "authoritarian China". Of course, this can happen only within a limit. For the Democratic administration also accepts China's crucial role in South Asia, as the Beijing joint statement – which, inter alia, had appeared to convey that China and the US would now keep a watch over differences between India and Pakistan – made clear a year ago.

 

A thorny issue that will be sought to be sorted out during Obama's visit is the teetering civil nuclear-energy partnership between the two countries. US sanctions against India ended with the signing of the nuclear deal a couple of years ago, but US firms like GE are not selling nuclear technology to India yet. They are not prepared to accept even the very limited liability placed on suppliers in the event of a nuclear accident under the Nuclear Liability Bill. India is hoping to assuage US firms that it will take care of their concerns through the rules to be framed under the law, while US officials and corporations want the law itself revised and the liability provision scrapped —which does not seem to be feasible in the given balance of political forces in India.

 

In the realm of world economy, the US wants India to support it in the currency war against China, blaming the latter for artificially devaluing the Chinese Yuan. But it has itself adopted a deliberate strategy to devalue the dollar, the principal means being quantitative easing (printing huge amounts of dollar for buying bonds and other financial assets from the market). A weaker dollar would help the President meet his avowed goal to double exports in five years, but this is not good omen for other nations. This explains why Pranab Mukherjee, during his recent visit to the US, refused to take the American side in this war against the Chinese, currently India's most important trading partner. Nor did he forget to voice India's disgruntlement with the Obama Administration's policy of discouraging outsourcing. During the impending visit of the US President, he is likely to raise this question again, and ask for liberalisation of the H-1B visa regime.

 

The Indian wish list would also include a clear commitment from the US to support its claim for permanent membership in an enlarged United Nations Security Council. India, too, would be required to make a number of commitments and policy changes. It will be under great pressure for removing whatever restrictive regulations are still there in sectors such as energy, technology, retail, health care and banking. On the diplomatic front, New Delhi will be urged to join the US in bullying Iran. As a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran has an "inalienable right" to develop and use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and according to the International Atomic Energy Agency there is no evidence to back up the charge that Iran is "planning to produce nuclear weapons". And yet the US, which lied about imaginary weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to manufacture the logic of aggression, is now portraying Iran as a threat to peace and resorting to escalating sanctions and threats of military intervention against that country. Washington has already named India's oil and gas flagship ONGC, IOC and three other firms among the 41 concerns worldwide having energy ties with Iran, an act for which it may impose sanctions on them and the pressure will now be further intensified.

 

Sending out a symbolic message of Indo-US partnership in the fight against terror, the US President will begin his tour from Mumbai, sight of the 26/11 attack. But is America really a dependable ally in this struggle? Soon after the visit was finalized, ProPublica -- an independent non-governmental organisation which was a recipient of this year's Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting -- gave out minute details showing that three years before the November 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai, US officials knew that David Coleman Headley was undergoing training with the Lashkar-e-Toiba, which plotted the attack. Had this information and his photographs been shared with India at the time or even after the Obama administration took over, India would not have given a visa to Headley for his repeated visits and this could have prevented the terror strike. This point has been largely ignored by major sections of the Indian media, almost exclusively preoccupied as it is with exposing the role of Pakistan's ISI in the attack on Mumbai.

 

Among regional issues, the Af-Pak policy of US will also figure in the talks, though hardly any breakthrough is expected. In the "Afghanistan and Pakistan Regional Stabilization Strategy" released in January this year, the White House promised an "enhanced partnership" with Pakistan that would move far beyond the military funding the Bush administration had provided. This was followed up by a provision of $7.5 billion to be given to Pakistan over five years. All this is not palatable to India, which never tires of complaining about US dollars being used by Pakistan in abetting cross-border terrorism. New Delhi is also eager to increase its stakes in Afghanistan and angry with President Karzai for talking to the Taliban. Pakistan on the other hand is reasonably aggrieved with the continuing US Drone attacks inside its territory. In a situation as complex as this, the visiting President will be hard put to balance relations between India and Pakistan -- countries eternally at loggerheads, but both of which hold significant regional influence in American plans for a post-war Afghanistan.

 

The impending visit will have its interesting sidelights too. For a starter, the Tata Group has announced a $ 50 million (Rs 220 crores) gift to Harvard Business School -- the largest donation from an international donor in the school's history. The symbolism should not be lost on India's state guest, who is also a Harvard (law school) alumnus. But in terms of substance, how much will the trip actually yield? Given the maze of multiple pressures and pulls in Indo-US relations, no sensible observer will dare come up with a categorical answer at this stage.

 

The US President comes to India at a time when he is experiencing a steep fall from a peak of popularity in his own country and abroad for failing to deliver on any of his high promises. The Manmohan Singh Government too finds itself beleaguered by a host of nagging problems ranging from skyrocketing prices to the CWG scam. Both sides desperately need a face-lift and they will use the trip for that purpose too. With the range of economic, diplomatic and strategic issues to be covered, it is also evident that Obama's India sojourn aims at bolstering US interests well beyond this country. The point was driven home by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Robert Blake, one of the top diplomats coming to New Delhi on a ground preparation mission, when he said the centre of gravity of US foreign policy has shifted from Europe to Asia. The bottom line is clear. Barack Obama is coming to our country as the intelligent, democratic face of US imperialism; let all who stand for peace, justice and sovereignty greet him with a loud welcome message: US imperialism keep off from India, keep off from Asia!

 

Adieu Comrade Rajesh

With a heavy heart, we have to convey the tragic news of the untimely death of Comrade Rajesh Ranjan, an activist of AISA and CPI(ML), who passed away of a sudden cardiac arrest on the morning of 26 October 2010.

Rajesh joined the AISA as a student of BA Korean in JNU. Throughout his student days in JNU, he was actively involved in the revival of AISA in JNU – he was an AISA office bearer as well as the general secretary of the AISA JNU unit in 2007-08. He also contested JNUSU elections as a Councillor candidate.

Rajesh was actively involved in the student movement in JNU. He was rusticated by the JNU administration in 2007 for participating in the movement for minimum wages and workers' rights in JNU. In fact, he was one of the first students in JNU who established a close rapport with workers in the campus, and got to know of the large-scale violations in workers' rights in JNU. Students as well as mess workers in Mahi hostel (where he was a resident for many years) will remember the role Rajesh played in raising their issues. Rajesh was also part of the group of students who got involved in teaching and taking classes for the children of the construction workers in our campus.

Always an activist who was most serious and committed towards revolutionary politics, he remained active even after his student days as an activist of the CPI(ML). He was part of the AISA Headquarters unit in Delhi, and was also a member of CPI(ML)'s and AISA's publications team and the website unit, and was also involved in the publication work of AIPWA's Women's Voice and AICCTU's Shramik Solidarity. Comrades could always count on the solid, dependable, hard-working Rajesh at all hours of day and night. He would also render all kinds of help in organising a variety of people's protests and movements. His cheerful and simple nature easily won the affection of all the friends and comrades with whom he worked.

There is no measure to the grief of his family (including his parents and sisters), loved ones, as well his many friends and comrades. We are all yet to come to terms with his shocking and sudden loss. We bid him adieu with tears in our eyes and our hearts full.

Red Salute to Comrade Rajesh!

 

Edited, published and printed by S. Bhattacharya for CPI(ML) Liberation from U-90, Shakarpur, Delhi-92; printed at Bol Publication, R-18/2, Ramesh Park, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi-92; Phone:22521067; fax: 22442790, e-mail: mlupdate@cpiml.org, website: www.cpiml.org

ML UPDATE 43 / 2010

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol. 13, No. 43, 19 – 25 OCTOBER 2010

The CWG Aftermath: Lessons and Challenges

T

he Commonwealth Games 2010 are finally over. India finished second with 38 gold medals (third in overall medal tally), with Indian women participants contributing nearly 40% of the total medals. This is certainly a high point in the country's performance in international sporting events, revealing the great potential that can be tapped with appropriate policies and care. The corrupt and inept organizers of CWG 2010 are now trying to bask in this glory achieved by Indian sportspersons, hoping that the country will forget and forgive the huge scams and bungling that made everybody aware of the CWG in the first place. We cannot let that happen.

 

The UPA government has announced a high-level probe headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General VK Shungloo into various allegations of irregularities concerning the conduct of the Games. Several investigative agencies including the CBI, Central Vigilance Commission, Enforcement Directorate are supposedly already looking into various aspects of the CWG mega scam. The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, headed by Murli Manohar Joshi of the BJP, is reportedly also ready to table its report regarding the CWG expenses in the forthcoming winter session of Parliament. The report was apparently held back by the BJP till the Games were over, ostensibly to protect 'national pride'.

 

There is a strong public opinion in the country that wants responsibility to be fixed for the mammoth CWG mess. But given the maze of scams and the multiplicity of agencies involved in the whole process of organizing and conducting the Games, it is quite possible that the process of investigation will get lost in the bureaucratic labyrinth and the political game of mutual mudslinging and shadowboxing. Already there are signs that the whole thing is being sought to be reduced to a showdown between a Kalmadi and a Dixit or the CWG Organising Committee versus Delhi Government. The government has decades of experience in delaying and diverting such probes and blunting their edge by finding a scapegoat or two. Moreover, the major political parties are all closely involved in the business of running the sports and games show in the country. Pushing the CWG probe to at least some reasonable level of logical conclusion will therefore call for a high degree of sustained civil society activism.

 

The CWG debate concerns not just misappropriation or wastage of public funds and bureaucratic inrefficiency and bungling, but equally importantly issues related to the sports policy, orientation and priorities of the government. Even after sixty-three years of independence, sports in India remain largely an elitist domain. Yet the bulk of the medals have come from disciplines like wrestling, boxing and weightlifting in which people from rather humble backgrounds have been excelling in event after event. All that is needed is to ensure that more and more people have access to sports facilities from an early age which in turn demands massive decentralization of training facilities and provision of adequate sports scholarships for promising talents. But the government's obsession with sporting extravaganzas like the CWG 2010 comes precisely at the cost of such a sustained and decentralized thrust on the promotion of sports. It would be instructive to contrast the expenditure on the 1982 Asiad and CWG 2010 to the country's cumulative total sports budgets since independence.

 

There are also some striking socio-cultural and socio-economic aspects to the CWG lessons. Many of the medals won by the Indian contingent have been claimed by women participants. And a good number of these women winners are from the Punjab-Haryana belt, notorious for its patriarchal environment and institutionalized discrimination against the female sex, including rampant killing whether in the embryonic stage or in the name of family/caste/clan honour. Then there are tribal women from backward states like Jharkhand who have time and again proved that they can excel in several disciplines like athletics, archery and hockey but are often subjected to the vagaries of migration and deprivation. Improvement in the conditions of women whether in India's economically advanced states or in backward areas can open up great new vistas in the advancement of sports in India.

 

Sections of the media have tended to project CWG 2010 as India's answer to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But surely the run-up to Beijing 2008 was not marked by the kind of murky scams and bureaucratic mess that became synonymous with the Indian preparation for CWG 2010? And China proved that there is more to national pride than spectacular opening and closing ceremonies, world class urban infrastructure and the hassle-free hosting of mega global events – it was China's own sporting performance in the Olympics which put China on top of the world. India did put up a much improved sporting performance, but still has miles to go on every count, and the reason must not be sought only within the sporting arena for it lies first of all in the poor quality of India's social indicators.

 

The 2010 Global Hunger Index released recently by the International Food Policy Research Institute gives us one crucial clue. Among 84 countries ranked on the basis of three leading indicators – prevalence of child malnutrition, rate of child mortality, and the proportion of people who are calorie deficient – India was found to be lagging at the 67th place, way behind the 9th position held by China. Among India's other neighbours only Bangladesh has a worse rank (68th) while Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal are all placed significantly ahead of India at 39th, 52nd and 56th position respectively. In spite of a bigger population, China can still boast of a strong baseline and much better facilities and greater access for its vast human resources, even though the current policy regime of China has clearly led to greater income and regional disparities in the country.

 

If the aftermath of CWG 2010 witnesses a focused public debate on the orientation and priorities of India's sports policy and the wider social environment obtaining in the country, we can at least have the satisfaction of deriving a healthy byproduct from an eminently avoidable and wasteful extravaganza.

 

CPI(ML) Candidate from Sandesh Comrade Rameshwar Prasad Arrested

Former MP and president of All India Agricultural Labour Association, Comrade Rameshwar Prasad, who is the CPI(ML) candidate from Sandesh constituency of Bhojpur in the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls, was arrested on 19 October when he came to file his nominations. To arrest him, a decade-old case pertaining to a protest against police firing which had claimed the lives of four CPI(ML) supporters was invoked. In August 2000, a massive protest demonstration had been held at the Arrah Collectorate against the fake encounter in which CPI(ML) activist Vishwanath Ram was killed. The police opened fire on the demonstrators and four of them - Vishram Pandey, Harey Ram Mushahar and Dharmendra Kumar as well as a 16 year old student Anand Kumar, were killed. While the police firing case against accused police officers is still pending, police had also filed a case against CPI(ML) leaders (No. 237/2000) in the Ara/Nawada Police Station. It is this case that has been unearthed to arrest Comrade Rameshwar Prasad. It should be noted that when Comrade Rameshwar contested the Lok Sabha polls recently this case was not invoked to arrest him. Significantly, the case in question was used as a pretext in 2009 to brand legendary CPI(ML) MLA Ram Naresh Ram as well as Rameshwar Prasad as 'extremists' and seek non-bailable warrants against them. At that time, there was vociferous protest within the Bihar Assembly against this attempt at witch-hunt, and the police was forced to go on the back foot. Now again the same case – in which it was the police who killed unarmed protestors in firing, and clearly the case against CPI(ML) leaders is a retaliatory action by offending police officers – which is being used to harass a CPI(ML) candidate.

 

The CPI(ML) has strongly condemned such political targeting and motivated arrest of a party leader and candidate in the Bihar Assembly polls and has demanded release of Comrade Rameshwar Prasad and withdrawal of the decade-old case against him and other party leaders.

 

Students & Youth Gherao Singur Police Station

While the commemoration programme of fourth martyrdom anniversary of Rajkumar Bhul was underway at Singur, news reached that Police had lathicharged the protestors agitating against pollution caused by the Himadri Chemicals factory in the area and had arrested Bhaskar Dhara, leader of the anti-pollution movement.

 

Condemning the lathicharge and arrest, AISA and RYA organisers immediately gheraoed Singur Police Station. They demanded that Bhaskar Dhara be released and the polluters be taken into police custody. CPI (ML) Liberation leader Sajal Adhikari and State committee leader Tapan Batabyal were also present during the gherao. There is a long tradition of the CPI (ML)'s solidarity with agitating villagers in the anti-pollution movement.

 

The protesting villagers complained that Himadri Chemicals had been dumping waste on the surroundings since a long time, paying no heed even to the directives of the Pollution Control Board. However the Police and Administration failed to take any steps against the factory authorities. Environmental conditions of the areas adjacent to the factory are deteriorating steadily. In the morning of that day, pitch from the factory was being strewn on the road. Angry villagers put up a road-blockade in protest. Police arrived only to lathicharge the protesters. They took along Bhaskar Dhara on the pretext of holding discussions, and eventually arrested him. As the thana gherao gained momentum with local people joining the students' and youth leaders in large numbers, the IC and OCs of Singur and Haripalpur Police Stations shed their initial reluctance to listen to the demands of the gherao. They admitted complaints on the pollution and promised all the necessary action to address the matter. The gherao was then lifted. The CPI (ML) district leadership visited the affected village and discussed at length with the villagers the future strategies of the movement.

 

Workers' Struggles From Around the World: Snapshots

FRANCE

Refinery Workers on Strike

More than 10 percent of French service stations were estimated to be out of fuel after walkouts and blockades at ports, refineries and storage depots halted imports and distribution.

Refinery management threatened workers who refused to return to work with five years in prison. The workers' strike is part of the ongoing upsurge among workers in different sectors all over France against a government plan to raise the retirement age.

 

GREECE

Contract workers blockade ministry entrance

Protesting culture ministry contract employees staged a blockade/sit-in of the entrance to the ministry on 18 October. The contract employees are demanding payment of 22 months in back pay, extension of their close-ended contracts and filling in organic vacancies at the ministry with tenured personnel. They also called on contract workers to take part in the 24-hour strike called by the Association of Greek Archaeologists on Thursday.

 

BELGIUM

Railway strike

On 18 October, rail traffic ground to a halt in Belgium in response to a strike call by the Socialist trade union ACOD in protest against reform in rail freight transport which ACOD claims will cost hundreds of train drivers' jobs.

 

BANGLADESH

Postal workers' strike

At least 24,000 non-permanent Bangladeshi postal department workers walked off the job for 12 days on October 9 over a charter of demands. Bangladesh Postal Extra-Departmental Workers' Union members also struck for 12 days in July over the same issues, affecting mail services at 8,500 rural post offices and over 600 extra-departmental sub-post offices in metro Khulna. The union wants payment of festival, travel and outfit allowances, permanent appointment after five years' service and the basic wage increased to between 3,200 and 4,500 taka a month. The union has threatened to call an indefinite strike on December 6 if its demands are not met.

 

Chittagong port workers strike

Dock Bandar Sramik Karmachari Federation (DBSKF) members at the government-run Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) struck on October 11 and picketed several berths operated by private companies recently contracted by the port authority. The private operators have refused to employ CPA workers.

 

DBCKF members want the six private berth operators' contracts cancelled and the reemployment of thousands of workers retrenched since 2007 when the dock management board was dissolved by the then caretaker government.

 

After port workers took strike action in August over the issue, the CPA agreed to set up a multi-representative committee and reinstated 1,800 workers. Another 2,500 reinstatements have been approved by the committee but the union alleges that the port authority is delaying the reinstatements in line with its plans to privatise the facility

 

CHILE

Mine rescue exposes precarious working conditions

The collapse of the San Jose gold and copper mine that trapped 33 miners for 10 weeks 2,300 feet below ground has focused attention on the safety of operations at Chilean mines. Over the past 30 years, the mining industry, which accounts for 40 percent of Chile's gross domestic product, has profited from the high price of copper, gold and other commodities while keeping costs low by neglecting safety and accelerating the exploitation of its mining workforce.

 

The San Jose mine incident exemplifies what has happened to mine safety in Chile since the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Under Pinochet, in the name of regulation and free market capitalism, virtually all safety regulations were dismantled. A key player in that process was current president Sebastian Pinera's older brother, Jose Pinera, minister of labor in 1980. Jose Pinera was tasked with creating a labor code that would not interfere with big business profits. In the name of a more flexible labor code that would stimulate economic growth, he abolished labor rights that had been won through decades of bitter struggle by the Chilean working class. The labor code established in 1980 continues to be the law of the land in Chile today. As a result, fully 50 percent of Chile's working class has no stable employment. At least five of the 33 miners rescued from San Jose fall under this category. The Chilean government has yet to ratify the International Labor Organization's 1995 agreement on mine health and safety. Convention 176 commits mining nations such as Peru, Mexico and Chile to undertake a modicum of health and safety measures and to commit themselves to the elimination of mine deaths by creating a national policy on health and safety, which includes regular inspections as well as provisions to protect miners from retaliation for exposing violations. The latter is a real problem in Chile, where workers are routinely sacked for complaining about their working conditions.

 

Since the turn of the century, some 350 miners have died from mine accidents in Chile, a number that may well be an underestimation. According to Dick Blin, a spokesman for the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), worldwide some 12,000 miners die every year, well above official figures. The under-reporting of mine fatalities is most glaring at small mines, such as the one at San Jose.

 

Never Give an Inch

"On lâche rien," a song by HK & les Saltimbanks (Kadour Haddadi and his band), has been adopted by French workers on strike against the Sarkozy-Woerth plan to raise the retirement age.

(Source: MRZine, 16.10.2010)

 

From the bottom of my urban project

Deep into your countryside

The reality has changed

And the revolt is brewing everywhere

In this world there was no place for us

We didn't look the part

We were not to the manor born

Not on daddy's plastic

The homeless, the unemployed, workers

Farmers, immigrants, the undocumented

They wanted to divide us

And to say they succeeded

As long as it was every man for himself

Their system could prosper

But one day we had to wake up

The heads had to roll

We'll never give an inch

They told us about equality

And like fools we believed them

"Democracy" makes me laugh

If we had had it we would have known it

What's the worth of our votes

Up against the law of the market?

They say "my dear fellow countrymen"

But we're cheated all the same

And what's the worth of human rights

Up against the airbus sale?

The bottom line, there's only one law, in sum:

"Sell yourself more to sell more."

We no longer believe

Their beautiful words

Our leaders are liars

We'll never give an inch

So stupid, so trite,

To speak of peace and brotherhood

When the homeless are dying in the streets

And the undocumented are being driven out

Crumbs are thrown to proles

That's just in the history of the silent

They don't attack millionaire bosses

"Too important for our society"

It's crazy the way they are protected

All our rich and powerful

Not to mention the help they get

For being the friends of the president

Dear comrades, dear "voters"

Dear "citizen-consumers"

The alarm is ringing

It's time

To reset to zero

As long as there's struggle and hope

As long as there's life and battle

As long as we're fighting, we're standing

Here's the key

We're standing, we won't give an inch

The passion for victory runs in our blood

Now you know why we are fighting

Our ideal, more than a dream

Another world, we have no choice

We'll never give an inch

 

 

 

 

 

Edited, published and printed by S. Bhattacharya for CPI(ML) Liberation from U-90, Shakarpur, Delhi-92; printed at Bol Publication, R-18/2, Ramesh Park, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi-92; Phone:22521067; fax: 22442790, e-mail: mlupdate@cpiml.org, website: www.cpiml.org

ML UPDATE 42 / 2010

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol. 13, No. 42, 12 – 18 OCTOBER 2010

Karnataka, Jharkhand, Bihar:

BJP's Sordid Saga of Opportunism

 

In state after state where it is in power or shares power, the BJP stands racked by factional wars and opportunistic strife. The BJP's "party with a difference" claims have been exposed long back by corruption and in-fighting. Even so, the recent dramas enacted in the Karnataka Assembly, the Jharkhand cabinet expansion exercise and resignations of prominent leaders in-charge of Bihar and Punjab point to a new low in the BJP's trajectory.

 

In Karnataka, the Yeddyurappa Government has lurched from crisis to crisis throughout its existence – many of them originating from the stranglehold of mining mafia over Karnatala's politics in general and the BJP Government and party in particular. In the latest instance, the BJP Government faced a challenge to its existence when 16 MLAs (11 belonging to BJP and 5 independents) rebelled. In the ensuing vote of confidence, the Government survived through a controversial voice vote (division of votes was not counted) thanks to the Speaker's questionable move of disqualifying all the 16 MLAs. The Karnataka HC is due to pronounce on whether the anti-defection law invoked by the Speaker applies to the rebel MLAs (especially the independents) or not. It appears that the Congress Government at the Centre will wait for the HC verdict before making any move to invoke President's Rule.

 

The BJP has claimed that the rebel MLAs took inducements from political rivals. From the BJP's side, their MLA Janardan Reddy of mining mafia notoriety played a prominent role in the entire episode. Whatever the outcome of this drama, the fact remains that this time, the tactics of 'Operation Kamala' employed earlier by the BJP itself (of inducing Congress and JD(S) MLAs to switch sides with the role of mining money being an open secret) has boomeranged on the BJP.

 

In Jharkhand, CM Arjun Munda's cabinet expansion exercise was a prolonged tussle between BJP and JMM leaders for plum ministerial berths, especially that of mines and minerals (known to be a 'gold mine' for Jharkhand MLAs and CMs). Even BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi reportedly referred to the entire process as a 'theatre of the absurd.' The Jharkhand BJP's internal battles resulted in another embarrassment for the party: some time ago, BJP's Punjab in-charge Yashwant Sinha tendered his resignation, in protest over the choice of Arjun Munda as Jharkhand CM.

 

Meanwhile, Bihar is witnessing a surge in election-time political opportunism – replete with turncoats, ticket trade, dynasty politics and so on. All major non-Left party offices – the BJP, Congress, JD(U), RJD and LJP – are witnessing angry protests by disillusioned ticket-seekers who now allege huge corruption and nepotism in distribution of tickets. The BJP in Bihar is very much part of this sordid process – two police vans are reportedly posted almost permanently outside the state BJP office, in anticipation of election-time brawls. The matter came to a head when BJP's Bihar in-charge CP Thakur resigned in protest against denial of a seat to his son and being kept in the dark over ticket distribution. He has however subsequently withdrawn his resignation following talks with the BJP's central leadership. A state BJP president resigning in protest against denial of ticket to his son and the central BJP President assuaging him by accepting his charge of being excluded from the decision-making process, both speak volumes for the kind of 'inner-party democracy' prevailing within the party!

 

While the Ayodhya verdict might give an unexpected boost to BJP's confidence, it has been apparent for long that the party's stock political agenda (whipping up communal frenzy and the bogey of terrorism) has been badly exposed and has failed to generate much response. Forced to fall back on a 'development/governance' plank, the BJP has found that plank too to be exposed by open opportunism and corruption in state after state where it enjoys power. We must take this opportunity to strengthen the offensive against the BJP and expose its communal character as well as the rank opportunism that it shares with other parties of the ruling classes.

 

The Human Cost of Wealth Explosion

According to a recent report on global wealth by investment bank Credit Suisse, total wealth in India has tripled over the past decade to $3.5 trillion (this is a general trend in emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific region: Indonesia's wealth for example has grown five-fold over the same period) and could further increase to $6.4 trillion by 2015. Given the hardly reassuring state of Indian and world economies, will the forecast come true? More pertinently, assuming it does, will that bring India any nearer the UN Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty by 2015?;

 

Such apprehension arises in view of a number of very disturbing facts and trends. The hallowed wealth increase occurred almost exclusively among the uppermost and higher-middle layers of population and much of it in stock market operations, where only around 5% of Indians participate. Not surprisingly, at least 200,000 peasants committed suicide around the same time as India became the nation with the second highest number of dollar billionaires, and the yearly food intake of an average poor family in 2007 turned out to be about 100 kg less than in 1997. In 2007-08 India occupied the132nd place in the UN Human Development Index (HDI) – down from the 122nd place it occupied in the same index in 1992.

 

We have the highest number of malnourished people and malnourished children (43% of India's children under 5 are underweight – that is, with BMI lower than18.5 – the highest in the world) as of 2008. In fact almost simultaneously with the Credit Suisse report, another one by the International Food Policy Research Institute placed our country far behind Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan in terms of people – children in particular – suffering from hunger and undernutrition. With these three countries placed in the 39th, 56th and 52nd positions and China miles ahead with the 9th place in the world, India occupies the 67th position.

 

The Gini coefficient of income inequality (a statistical measure where zero denotes complete equality and one denotes absolute inequality) in India comes to a high 0.535. Inequality of opportunity – which is more important in determining a country's future growth trajectory and which depends mostly on distribution of land as well as access to education, health, stable employment etc – is even more pronounced.

 

The extremely skewed land ownership in our country is well-known, but few people know that India's educational inequality is one of the worst in the world. According to World Bank estimates, the Gini coefficient of the distribution of adult schooling years in the population, a rough measure of educational inequality, was 0.56 in India in 1998/2000, which is not just higher than 0.37 in China and 0.39 in Brazil but even higher than almost all Latin American countries.

 

Now add to these figures the wherewithal of economic growth: large-scale displacement, land grab, resource loot and onslaughts like UAPA and Operation Green Hunt. What you get is the moral of the whole story – in the neoliberal model, growth in GDP and 'national' wealth has to be inversely proportional to real development and democracy. For the aam admi, therefore, the spectacular growth prospects highlighted by the Swiss bank comes as a warning bell, implying more deprivation, more marginalization, more attacks on democratic rights, more cultural and environmental degradation.

 

Surely this cannot go unchallenged. The fight for an alternative path of self-reliant and people-centred development as opposed to the present imperialist-dictated, corporate-driven growth – an alternative that would promote relatively more egalitarian and employment-intensive and less energy-resources-capital intensive path of development – thus assumes a new urgency as we approach the second decade of 21st century.

 

Liberate Jharkhand from Starvation, Loot & Injustice:

AILC Convention Held in Ranchi

 

As part of the Nation-wide campaign by All India Left Coordination (AILC) in keeping with the Delhi Declaration of 11th August 2010, a State-level Convention "Liberate Jharkhand from Starvation, Loot and Injustice" was organised by CPI(ML) at the Gosner Theological Hall in Ranchi. More than six hundred cadres of CPI(ML) and dozens of delegates of CPM(Punjab), Lal Nishan Party (Leninist) from Maharashtra and Left Coordination Committee from Kerala attended the Convention.

 

The Convention was addressed by comrades Mangat Ram Pasla of CPM(Punjab), Bhim Rao Bhonsle from LNP(L), Kumaran Kutty from LCC Kerala and CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya. Comrade Dipankar called upon the people of Jharkhand for uniting to thwart BJP's intentions of converting the State in yet another laboratory of communal fascism and launching a robust fight against displacement, eviction, and rendering land barren to build the Jharkhand anew as per the dreams of its martyrs. He further said that the ruling parties have subverted the State into Lootkhand (plunder land) by numerous MoU, lease and illegal mining. Panchayat elections under PESA have been on hold just to ensure that these MoUs are not annulled by elected gram sabhas (village committees) and it is the duty of the true inheritors of the revolutionary legacy of Birsa Munda and Mahendra Singh to transform the panchayats into a platform of struggles for democracy.

 

Comrades Mangat Ram Pasla, BR Bhonsale and Kumaran Kutty, all the speakers, while highlighting a more or less similar situation in their states, said that only a revolutionary Left movement can liberate the people from persistent ills. The Convention was also addressed by CPI(ML) leader and its representative in the State Assembly Com. Vinod Singh, renowned intellectual Shri VP Keshri and senior journalist Shri Faisal Anurag among others. The initiative and formation of AILC was warmly welcomed by the speakers who said that true Left has a serious responsibility of mobilizing and consolidating all the forces of struggle for a revolutionary alternative.

 

The Convention was presided over by Comrade Bahadur Oraon, Central Committee member of CPI(ML). Comrade JP Minz proposed the resolutions on behalf of the Convention which was unanimously passed. Prerna, a part of Jharkhand Jasam presented Cultural performances and hard work from all the comrades in Ranchi ensured the successful organising of the Convention.

 

Worker-Peasant Sankalp Sabha on Com. Basroo's 1st Memorial Day

A large assembly of workers, peasants and common people assembled at Jamua in Giridih on 29th September on the occasion of 1st Memorial Day of Comrade Ibnul Hasan Basroo took pledge to intensify the struggles Com. Basroo was spearheading in the area for democracy and people's progress in Jharkhand. Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya, addressing the assembly said that Arjun Munda is infamous for selling off Jharkhand and again the Tata's and Mittal's have contrived to make him the CM for completing the job.  However, they are afraid that Panchayat elections will halt this free reign of loot and so it is not being held. He called upon all the democratic forces to unite to thwart this design and chase away the looters camping in the State.

 

Prior to this, a memorial meeting was held in Mirzaganj (Com. Basroo's village) and from there people marched in rally to Jamua CPI(ML) office to pay tribute to their beloved leader. Also present were CPI(ML) PB member Comrade DP Bakshi, State Secretary Com. Janardan Prasad, SCMs Com. AP Gupta, Rajkumar Yadav, Parmeshwar Mehta and Rajesh Kr. Yadav and CPI(ML) Dist. Secretary  Manoj Bhakt among others. Comrade Usman Ansari conducted the proceedings of the programme.

 

Demo Demanding Resignation of BJP Government

HD Kote unit of CPI(ML) in Mysore district in Karnataka organized a demonstration on 8 October demanding resignation of Yeddyurappa-led BJP government in Karnataka in view of ugliest number games being played by them. The demonstrators resolved to carry forward the struggle for resignation of the BJP government for its anti-people policies. Com. C. Javaraiah, SLT member of CPI(ML) led the demonstration and condemned the BJP for resorting to the murder of democracy.

 

Coimbatore: Pricol Workers' Family Festival

Pricol workers, who are through a tough journey in their fight for democratic rights and dignity, organised a Family Festival on 10th October. Over 6000 participated in the festival and this number was initially beyond any expectations and preparations.

 

This was an attempt to impart a larger social dimension to their struggle. In the Festival they made a clear statement: "Come what may. We will not deviate from the path of struggle. We will add new tasks to our journey. Our journey will gain new strength and vigour."

 

Pricol comrades began their preparations for this festival after September 7. A sports event was organized as part of the Festival on 26.06.10 in Vivekanada Vidyalaya school ground in which 700 wards of Pricol workers participated in various games. On that day itself there were over 400 workers in the ground along with their children. Later, in the first week of October, quiz program for the workers' families, indoor games, oratory competition and essay competition were held.

 

Along with these a "Field Investigation" competition for workers' teams was held. 10 teams conducted surveys in various wards in Perianaickenpalayam. All those comrades were given one year "Theepori" subscription as a gift. Over 250 workers were involved in the hall arrangement the previous day.

 

All this culminated in a grand gathering on 10th October. From 9 a.m. workers along with their families started arriving at the venue. Around 11 a.m. the ground was full and comrades who came after that had to sit in a hall where a closed circuit TV screen was put to see the program.

 

A photo exhibition 'Instances that turned into history' was organized as a part of the Festival where photos depicting their struggles since they formed a fighting union were exhibited. Com. Swapan Mukherjee, GS, AICCTU inaugurated the program, Com. Balasundaram, State Secretary of the Party hoisted the flag and Com. Thenmozhi, State President, AIPWA, opened the photo exhibition. Mr. Ramesh, advocate who is dealing with the criminal cases of Pricol workers spoke in the Festival.

 

A cultural performance in the form of dance depicted workers struggle and there were requests from the audience for an encore. Prizes were distributed to all children who participated in various competitions. This itself took over 2 hours. A play on No Trade Union Zone was also held.

 

Comrade S Kumarasami said that only Pricol workers can beat the records created by them and they have proved it once again. He also said that Pricol workers have demonstrated clearly that they are strong in their struggle for democratic rights and they will never waver from the path of struggle. He called upon the workers to make the voice of the fighting workers resonate in the State Assembly by making a powerful intervention in the forth coming Assembly election.

 

12th Smriti Diwas of Comrade Nagbhusan & Land Struggles in Orissa

On 9th October, the occasion of 12th memorial day for Comrade Nagbhusan Patnaik (NBP) a memorial meeting titled Land Struggles Movement in Orissa was held at Nagbhusan Bhawan in Bhubaneswar. Comrade Khitish Biswal elaborated on the role of NBP in Orissa's land struggle movement and its relevance in present days and called upon all to fight against the corporate loot in Orissa which will be true tribute to a revolutionary like NBP. Com. Diwakar Naik of CPI said that NBP was the Left leader in India who tried for communist unification and saluted NBP's contribution towards Left unification and also said it is going to reflect in upcoming Bihar election.

 

Senior journalist Rabi Das emphasized on more literature on life of NBP to be published to inspire the youth of this country to join the Left movement.

 

The meeting was also addressed by Prof Nilamani Sahu, comrades Radhakanta Sethi, Tirupati Gomango, Mahendra Parida and Ashok Pradhna among others.

 

KSA candidates Win DGC Election

Post of Vice President and Gen. Secy. of Diphu Govt. College (DGC) Students' Union were won by Karbi Students' Association (KSA), an affiliate of All India Students' Association (AISA). Clearly it is an outcome of continuous student movement led by KSA-AISA. In Karbi Anglong Students' Union elections were usually determined by different types of power tactics with arms and money power represented by NSUI and UPDS outfits. This time too DGC election was declared to be held without photo identity card, so that usual strong arm tactics can be repeated. KSA's strong opposition and movement against this the authorities were compelled to defer the election, which was finally held on 9th October. Apart from fighting against privatization and commercialization of education and mal-practices of anti-student outfits, KSA has been leading a student movement on 10 point demands.

 

KSA candidate Thomson Rongpi (621 votes) won Gen Secy defeating his nearest rival an independent candidate backed by NCP leaders. NSUI came 3rd, and PAPA (Peoples' Alliance for Peace Agreement, an open organization of cease-fire UPDS) backed KSA. VP candidate Lunce Timung of KSA won (864 votes) defeating PAPA backed KSA candidate (720) and NSUI was again 3rd (523).

 

AISA Rally and Convention at Kottur, Bellary

AISA organized an impressive rally of nearly three hundred students at Kottur in Bellary district of Karnataka on 9 October on the issues of hostel facilities, fee hike and better infrastructure. More than 50 girl students took part in the march to press for their demands. With this successful rally, AISA has made a beginning in Bellary district. Most of the students were quite new to such protests and the Left student organization. The rally was organized after making repeated representations to the state and the local MLA demanding government hostels in Kottur, where more than 20000 students are studying in various colleges.

 

A successful convention was held as a culmination of the rally that passed resolutions demanding government hostels to all students from surrounding rural areas and regularization of food and other facilities being offered in government sponsored mess. Com. Rajan Pandey, AISA Headquarters In-charge , lambasted the central and state governments' anti-student reforms and progressively decreasing public spending on education that lead to lack of hostel and other necessary facilities for students' growth.

 

AISA Convention at Jagalur, Davanagere

AISA organized a students' convention at Jagalur in Davanagere district of Karnataka against the anti-student policies of central and state governments. Hundreds of students attended the convention with an overwhelming participation of girl students. The convention marked the increasing stability and growth of AISA in the district.

 

Com. Rajan Pandey, Headquarters In-charge, called upon students to rise in struggles against farcical reforms in education and commercialization and for a scientific, pro-people education. He exposed the fallacy of education reforms that are against the broad majority of poor students. Com. Prasad, NEC, declared a protest in front of Davanagere University on 14 October against the abrupt change in syllabus in the run-up to exams.

 

Com. Hanumanthappa, one of the state conveners, played a key role in organizing the convention. Taluk president Nagbushan, Davanagere president Manju and Parashuram of AIALA addressed the convention.

 

Kisan leader Murdered in Mansa-CPI(ML) leads the struggle for Justice

On 11th October a kisan leader was murdered and two other were injured when a armed gang led by a money lender and revenue officer opened fire at them. The incident happened at village Biroke that falls under tehsil Budhlada of Mansa dist. Pirthi Singh aged 38 who lost his life was an active leader of Bharti Kisan Union (dakonda group) and was resident of village Chak alisher. He was also the older brother of our party comrade Lakhwinder Lakhi who himself is the district leader of All India Kisan Mahasabha.

 

The incident happened when some revenue officials went to village Biroke for attaching the 10 canal land of a farmer Bhola Singh. This was the only piece of land that he owned. He was under the debt of about Rs.1.5 lakh of a moneylender for some time. To protest the move farmers started gathering at village Biroke. Sensing the mood the revenue officials left the scene. Farmers relaxed their vigil and some of them left the place. Only few farmers and leaders were left there. After a few hours the money lender, his associates, and armed goons with revenue officer (tehsildar) Subhash Singh reached the site again and opened fire killing Pirthi Singh and injuring two others.

 

At the time of this report, the body of slain leader was lying at civil hospital in Mansa. Various farmer organizations have joined hands to fight for justice and farmer rights. It has been reported that the gang involved in this incident is close to the ruling Akali Dal and is patronized by ex-MLA of Mansa, Sukhwinder Singh Aulakh. CPI(ML) has demanded that all culprits should be immediately booked and arrested including the revenue officer, Rs.10 lakh compensation for the family of slain leader, strict action should be taken against policemen for their negligence due to which this incident occurred, private money lending should be banned and registration should be made necessary for financial business and all court cases regarding the debt of farmers due to moneylenders (in some cases farmers r forced to sign blank promotes) should be withdrawn and abolished immediately.

 

WB: BCMF's 5th State Conference

The 5th State Conference of Bengal Chatkal Mazdoor Forum (BCMF), the state level union of Jute Workers of West Bengal and affiliated to AICCTU, was successfully held on 2nd October 2010 at Comrade Monoranjan Naskar Nagar (Budge Budge, South 24 Parganas) and Com. Sekh Asraf Manch (Public Library). 235 delegates attended the Conference and the overwhelming presence of the fighting jute workers marked the significance of the Conference.

 

Conference started after Com. Gunodhar Mondal, a veteran jute worker hoisted the red-flag and a minute's silence was observed in memory of the martyrs. Com. Basudev Bose, General Secretary of WB AICCTU, greeted the delegates and noted their important role during the 7th September strike. Com. Atanu Chakravarty, General Secretary of BCMF placed the draft document on which delegates from different jute mills put forward their views. The conference discussed at length the plight of jute workers, the areas of Violation of Tripartite agreement by the employees, the role of Central and State Govts and the tasks confronting the workers. It is to be noted that after 61 days of industry-wide strike, a tripartite agreement was signed between the employers and central trade unions active in the jute mills on 12 February 2010, but BCMF along with five other Trade Unions denied to sign the agreement due to the anti worker clause of aligning/associating production-productivity with wages, and fixing the minimum wage of jute workers at Rs. 157 were inserted in the above mentioned agreement. But after protracted strike, the workers were able to achieve some significant gains on the question of DA in particular and so BCMF decided to consolidate those gains while opposing the anti-worker aspects simultaneously.

 

Comrade Atanu pointed to the Central Govt's Expert Committee report in which it categorically pointed out that all the jute mills of West Bengal earned substantial profit, yet downsized their workforce, all the while augmenting production. But the employers are portraying this industry as sick, exploiting all the anti-workers clauses of the SICA, violating the PF, ESI and Gratuity Act with impunity. Our union will formulate demands for the workers and interfere actively in the BIFR hearing independently, demarcating with other unions if need be.

 

Some delegates from jute mills, where BCMF was not present, viz. Kanoria, Ganges, Budge Budge, EMCO also participated. The conference resolved to organise mass demonstration in the month of December before the Labour Secretariat, and to fight for the PF-pension claims of Gouripore Jute Mills, to organise all the unregistered workers sans PF-ESI and so on. The conference was presided over by a 9-member workers presidium, and elected a 45 member State Council, 23 member State Executive and 13 member Office Bearer team. Com. Nabendu Dasgupta and Com. Atanu Chakravarty were reelected as President and General Secretary respectively. The conference atmosphere was highly spirited and revolutionary.

 

 

Edited, published and printed by S. Bhattacharya for CPI(ML) Liberation from U-90, Shakarpur, Delhi-92; printed at Bol Publication, R-18/2, Ramesh Park, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi-92; Phone:22521067; fax: 22442790, e-mail: mlupdate@cpiml.org, website: www.cpiml.org