WEST BENGAL ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS-2011

VOTE FOR LEFT FRONT CANDIDATES TO REELECT LEFT FRONT GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL FOR 8TH SUCCESSIVE TERM

Friday, December 31, 2010

STUDENTS FEDERATION OF INDIA AND STUDENTS OF WEST BENGAL PLEDGE NOT TO ALLOW BLACK DAYS OF SEVENTIES TO RETURN IN WEST BENGAL

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UPA GOVERNMENT: TIDES OF SCAMS HIT MAMATA-MANMOHAN-SONIA GOVERNMENT

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NEW DELHI: UNPRECEDENTED PRICE RISE. PEOPLE OF ALL SECTIONS SUFFER UNDER CORRUPT UPA GOVT OF MAMATA-MANMOHAN

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COMRADE JYOTI BASU: 17TH JANUARY, 2011 IS THE FIRST DEATH ANNIVERSSARY


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BIDHANNAGAR MUNICIPAL CORPORATION: CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES ON THE RISE DUE TO ENEFFICIENT BOARD


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MAMATA BANERJEE IS THE REPRESENTATIVE OF MAOISTS IN THE CABINET OF DR. MANMOHAN SINGH

D.O. No. 119-CM

December 28, 2010

Dear Shri Chidambram,

Kindly refer to your secret letter dated 21/22 December, 2010 which had been published in the media before it reached my office on 27.12.2010 at 11 A.M.

Your assessment of the situation in the State of West Bengal is surprising and is far from an impartial overview of the situation. Maoists have spread from across the bordering states and with the help of small section of local people are creating problems mostly in 28 police stations in three districts of West Bengal. They are trying to create their own areas of dominance. They are indiscriminately killing political opponents and even innocent people. They are attacking police stations, police camps and looting arms. They are also engaged in large scale extortions and other unlawful activities.

You are fully aware of these activities of the Maoists. The greatest challenge is how to contain the Maoists and defeat them finally both administratively and politically.

In recent times State and Central Police through their joint efforts have achieved major successes. Peace and normalcy have been restored in vast areas. People who were evicted earlier are going back to their homes. Govt/Panchayat office are functioning normally and so are the schools, markets and shops. Life is gradually coming back to normalcy in these areas but still we have problem in the areas bordering our state. Trinamool Congress which was earlier maintaining secret contacts with Maoist leaders and outfits are now openly organising meetings with them.

CPI (M) and it allies are trying their best to resist the Maoists by mobilizing people against them and in the process have lost more than 170 of their workers and leaders. Unfortunately, you are now blaming them for the present state of affairs. I am afraid it will divert the attention of all concerned who are struggling against Maoists, the greatest threat to our internal security.

As regards political clashes mentioned in your letter I would like to correct your figures. 32 Trinamool Congress supporters have been killed and 601 have suffered injuries while CPI (M) have lost 69 of their cadres and another 723 have been injured. Indian National Congress has lost one of their supporters and 111 have been injured during the period mentioned in your letter. I, however, agree that it is not a happy situation and I am doing my best to stop these senseless killings. I have repeatedly appealed to all the opposition parties to cooperate. All the parties except Trinamool Congress have come forward to cooperate. Trinamool Congress has refused to talk to administration. I am trying to disarm and demoblise all armed groups engaged in violence in some pockets of the state.

I strongly object to your using the word “Harmad” to mean the CPI (M) party workers without knowing the actual meaning of this nasty word coined by Trinamool Congress leaders.

More when we meet.

With regards,

Yours sincerely,

Sd/-

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee

Shri P. Chidambram

Union Home Minister

New Delhi-110 001

Monday, December 27, 2010

VIJAYAWADA CITY: URBAN REFORMS: AN EXPERIENCE OF VIJAYAWADA CITY - C H Babu Rao

MUCH has been said about the funds for the development of cities from the World Bank and the central government. The central government initially chose Hyderabad, Vishakapatnam and Vijayawada cities in Andhra Pradesh under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and said that later it would be expanded to other cities. It said that the face of the cities would change dramatically and gave hopes that there would be no dearth of civic facilities. But the experience of the last five years has proved to the contrary. Luring with the promise that it would provide funds, the central government imposed World Bank conditionalities, which adversely impacted the lives of people. For example, if we take the Vijayawada city itself, this city was brought under JNNURM in 2005-06. They promised there would be a deluge of funds. The central government was asked to provide Rs 7300 crore but it allocated only Rs 1422 crore. Of it, only 70 per cent would be borne by the central and state governments. Of the funds they give, 20-40 per cent would be given as debt. This has to be repaid with interest. But so far only Rs 470 crore has been given. Of it, Rs 205 crore would go for the construction of houses and only Rs 265 crore would be left for providing civic facilities. Of this, Rs 52 crore is the debt and only Rs 213 crore is the grant amount. This means that only Rs 43 crore is given on an average per annum in the last five years.

DEVELOPMENT STAGNATED

The state government has stopped giving grants which it was supposed to give under law on the pretext of central funds to the Vijayawada city. It has imposed additional burdens on people. It has stopped giving Rs 60 crore from the past four years which was due under professional tax, per capita grants and such other grants. The World Bank and the central governments have imposed a condition that the stamp duty be reduced from 13 per cent to 5 per cent for facilitating the big, foreign realtors. As a result of this reduction, there is a shortfall of Rs 50 crore to the corporation’s income. Contrary to the decision that the wages of all the municipal workers would be borne by the state government, in the name of JNNURM, Vijayawada has been excluded and this burden is being now borne by the city corporation. Apart from the sanction given for the construction of houses for the poor, an additional expenditure of Rs one lakh has been incurred for each house. This additional expenditure had to be borne by the state government but instead it shifted it onto the city corporation. As a result approximately Rs 100 crore additional burden was placed on the corporation for construction of 15,000 houses. On the whole, because of the reduction in grants, reduction in the share in the income, additional burdens etc the city corporation has lost Rs 250 crore. During this period only Rs 213 crore has been offered as assistance.

For these projects, 30 per cent of the funds (around Rs 420 crore) have to be borne by the city corporation. The central and state governments have not released even the funds that they have comparatively expended for the JNNURM. The state and centre owe Rs 150 crore to the corporation. Above it, the centre has stopped the last instalment of the funds stating that the user charges and other conditionalities have not been implemented in time. As a result, at present there is no money with the corporation even for wages. Money is owed to the contractors. Development works like drinking water supply, underground drainage, laying/repair of roads etc have been stopped midway, subjecting the people to severe hardships.

PEOPLE ON THE ALTAR OF REFORMS

The poor people have become scapegoats of urban reforms. Burdens have increased, while facilities were curtailed. Slums were neglected. In the name of minimum tax, around Rs 50-153 has been increased in the tax on the huts. As a result of privatisation of lavatories, poor people who do not have independent toilets are shelling out Rs 300-500 as user charges for utilising the public toilets. The fee for issuing birth and death certificates has been increased by Rs 5-50. Taxes were imposed on small vendors who sell their wares sitting on roadside. Fee was levied even on using the premises of municipal schools where the poor had an opportunity to hold their marriage and other functions by Rs 100-1000. In the name of providing underground drainage, huge donations were levied. The corporation has withdrawn from mosquito eradication programmes. Every day poor families are forced to spend Rs 5 for mosquito control. On the whole the reforms are playing havoc on poor people lives.

BENEFITING THE RICH

In the name of reforms, street lighting, maintaining public toilets, etc have all been privatised. Rich people have been given an opportunity to construct and sell apartments, hotels in the valuable lands of the government and city corporation. Priority is being accorded for providing facilities like drinking water, maintaining roads, etc in the colonies of the rich under the pretext that they are ready to share part of the expenditure through contributions. They are introducing a scheme to supply water 24 hours – 24x7 scheme – in these colonies. Parks are well maintained in these colonies. All facilities are provided to the wealthy. This is the reason why rich classes, contractors, corrupt officials, bureaucrats and politicians are very happy about these reforms.

BURDENS IN THE NAME OF CONDITIONS

The World Bank and the central government have imposed almost similar conditions in the name of urban reforms. They have issued a diktat that 100 per cent costs have to be collected from the people who avail civic facilities. Local bodies have to mobilise their own additional incomes for their share. As a result, in these five years severe burdens were imposed on the people of Vijayawada. Under the pretext of covering the losses from supplying drinking water, they are trying hard to fix water meters. Prices have been fixed for supplying water to the water distribution sheds run by voluntary organisations. Drainage charges were raised by 100 per cent for each toilet. They have not even spared garbage collection from income mobilisation. The state government has even issued a government order imposing Rs 8 crore ‘garbage tax’. Trade licence fee for the traders has been increased. In these five years, in the name of collecting interest, people have been burdened with Rs 4.65 crore. Rs 45 crores were snatched under the building penalisation scheme. On the whole, in the last five years an additional burden of Rs 190 crore has been imposed on the people in the name of taxes, fee and user charges.

DISAPPEARING LOCAL GOVERNANCE

All the promises for strengthening the local bodies and giving more powers to them through the 74th Constitutional Amendment proved to be empty words. Local bodies have been robbed of their power to take decisions under their purview and were degraded to just implementing agencies of the diktats and conditionalities of the central and state governments. Without the knowledge of the elected council, the commissioner has signed on urban development plan that has dangerous conditions. It was later unilaterally adopted by the council without any discussion as a mere formality. Only after the CPI (M) has exposed this fraud, the corporators and the people have been given the copies. The state government has issued orders rejecting the resolutions of the council on doing away with the garbage tax and on giving concessions to the poor for change of name in the property tax receipts. The state government did not pay heed to the unanimous resolution of the council demanding the non-removal of the huts of the poor constructed on the Krishna embankments. Dictatorial policies are being implemented on the pretext of reforms. These are not just confined to Vijayawada but are implemented in various stages in all the cities.

THEN AND NOW

Except for the CPI (M) all other parties welcomed the introduction of JNNURM in the Vijayawada municipal council. The ruling Congress stated that it is a boon for the city. CPI and TDP too supported it. Everybody thought that there would be a deluge of funds. CPI(M) was the only party that consistently opposed this move. It warned against the dangers of conditions. The ruling party had campaigned that CPI(M) is against development and that it is obstructing the flow of funds. Experience has vindicated the party’s stand. CPI and TDP too were now forced to join our party in the demonstrations against the burdens on the poor. Due to the protests organised by the party, brakes were applied on the implementation of the reforms. Fitting of water meters were stalled temporarily. Collection of garbage tax was being postponed for the last five years. It was proved in practice that these reforms can be stopped through struggles. This fight has to be taken further and conducted in all the cities.

Source: www.pd.cpim.org/

Sunday, December 19, 2010

“PEOPLE’S DEMOCRACY” COMMENTS THAT GOVT’S OBDURACY UNDERMINES CONSTITUTIONAL FOUNDATIONS

BY now, it is certain that this winter session of the parliament will end without any business being transacted. This is, indeed, unprecedented in the history of independent India. It is also unprecedented that it is the ruling coalition that is responsible for jettisoning this session by obdurately refusing to constitute a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to investigate the 2G spectrum scam – the biggest scam in independent India.

We have been demanding the constitution of a JPC because this scam involves not merely graft in terms of siphoning off revenues that should have been due to government. This scam involves a massive manipulation of our system that permits such a loot to take place. These avenues for manipulation need to be plugged. This can be done only on the basis of a thorough investigation that can recommend new regulations or, for that matter, new laws, if necessary. In our constitutional scheme of things, it is the parliament alone that can enact laws. Hence, it is only a JPC that will have the authority to recommend the required new regulations and laws.

The apex court, in a way, vindicated this understanding when it remarked, as we go to press, that, “The issue raised in the case is not only limited to the Rs 1.76 lakh crore but has a much wider compass. We would not like to prejudice the probe. But, what happened in 2001 needs to be looked into. It is for the CBI to investigate and find out.” It was in 2001 that the then NDA government led by Vajpayee adopted the policy of first-come-first-served norm for spectrum allocation. The Supreme Court also remarked about the policy of transfer of dual technology – CDMA and GSM – stating that the CAG has not gone into this issue. “This matter has not been investigated”, said the Bench.

We have been raising in these columns since early 2008 that the loss to the exchequer in the 2G spectrum allocation was on three counts – loss due to 122 licenses for new entrants in 2008; loss due to dual technology licenses; and loss due to excess spectrum occupied by GSM operators. Our estimation of loss was placed at Rs 1.9 lakh crores while the CAG has now pegged it at a little over Rs 1.76 lakh crores. The need to enquire into a gamut of related policy matters, becomes imperative once again, given the decision of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) that served notices, according to media reports, on 85 operators seeking a show cause explanation as to why their licenses should not be revoked as they have not fulfilled the rollout obligations, ie, not started operations. They are, thus, open to the charge that they may well resell these licenses for massive profits, as some have done earlier.

For these reasons, it is clear that the UPA government’s arguement that since the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is looking into the CAG report, there is no need to constitute a JPC is simply untenable. The PAC is essentially a committee that examines accounts, by definition. If all other related policy issues need to be examined, then it is only a JPC that can authoritatively make recommendations. Those who argue that the JPCs in the past have not produced any results, overlook the fact that current regulations for our financial markets have been put in place only after the JPC recommendations on the Harshad Mehta stock market scam.

By not allowing the parliament to perform its duties, the government is seriously undermining the foundations of our constitutional scheme of things. The executive (government) is accountable to the legislature (parliament) which, in turn, is accountable to the people. The sovereignty of the people - `We, the People’ – is, thus, established in this scheme. By jettisoning the parliament, the government is escaping from being accountable and, at the same time, eroding, both in letter and spirit, this constitutional scheme. This is a very grave matter that strikes at the very foundations of our Republican constitution and parliamentary democracy.

In these developments, the role of the principal opposition – BJP – is becoming curiouser and curiouser. We had spoken of its double speak, in these columns earlier, concerning the defence of its government’s corruption in Karnataka. Now we find that the BJP, on the one hand, demands a JPC and, on the other, one of its former national presidents who currently chairs the PAC has begun investigation into the CAG report. This thoroughly endorses the standpoint of the ruling Congress-led UPA coalition. Further, Mr L K Advani has publicly commented that if the BJP’s leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha was allowed to speak at the beginning of this winter session, then the BJP would not have raised the demand for a JPC. Further still, BJP’s ideologue and a member of the Vajpayee cabinet of ministers, Mr Arun Shourie, has vehemently articulated against the constitution of a JPC. Clearly, the BJP does not want a probe into the policy shifts that happened under their government. Recollect that the NDA government had abruptly moved from the policy of `license fees’ to `revenue sharing’ in the telecom sector which, then, was alleged to have caused a massive loss to government revenues at the expense of favouring some corporates.

Thus, the BJP’s credibility on this issue of fighting corruption comes under a huge question mark. Given this, while most opposition parties have raised the issue of a JPC, an all-in-opposition unity is simply not tenable. This is apart from the fact that the secular opposition parties cannot find any common cause with the politics of communalism that the BJP pursues.

The ruling Congress-led UPA government’s relentless efforts to jettison this winter session of the parliament by refusing to constitute a JPC cannot, however, conceal or contain the growing people’s anger against such mega corruption. The intervening period till the commencement of the budget session next February must see a growing public pressure that must be mounted on this UPA government to make it accountable both to the parliament and the people on the issue of mega corruption.

December 8, 2010

Courtesy: People’s Democracy

Thursday, December 2, 2010

INDIAN OIL CORPORATION LIMITED: EMPLOYEES DEMONSTRATE AGAINST DISINVESTMENT

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NATIONWIDE STRIKE BY EMPLOYEES OF BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LIMITED



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WEST BENGAL ASSEMBLY ELECTION-2011: THE BATTLE IS AHEAD FOR PRESERVATION AND CONTINUATION OF DEMOCRACY

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2G SPECTRUM SCAM: UPA GOVERNMENT SUPPOROTS THE IRREGULARITIES COMMITTED BY A. RAJA, FORMER TELECOMMUNICATION MINISTER


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MUNGHER, BIHAR: ANGRY VILLAGERS SLAIN 10 MAOIST BUTCHERS & RAPISTS. MEDHA PATKAR, ARUNDHATI ROY AND MAHASWETA DEVI SUPPORT THESE BUTCHERS & RAPISTS.

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TOPSIA, KOLKATA: POOR CHRISTIAN TRIBAL WOMAN MOLESTED BY GOONS OF TRINAMOOL CONGRESS. WHY MEDHA PATKAR , ARUNDHATI ROY SILENT ?

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PERFORMANCE OF SOUTH 24. PARGANAS ZILLA PARISHAD - GANASHAKTI

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STALIN: WHY HIS TEACHINGS AND ADVICE SHOULD BE REMEMBERED.


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GURJANT SINGH RELEASED. DRAMA ENACTED BY MAMATA BANERJEE AND HER TEAM OF LIERS EXPOSED.

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MUMBAI: ASHOK CHAVAN, BILASHRAO DESHMUKH, SUSHIL KUMAR SINDHE, NARAYAN RANE, SHIBAJIRAO NILANGEKAR, ALL EX.CHIEF MINISTERS IN ADARSH HOUSING SCAM


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NREGA: MAOIST TERROR WITHERS AWAY IN JANGALMAHAL. NREGA STARTS AGAIN.

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Wednesday, December 1, 2010

KOLKATA: MAMMOTH RALLY BY LEFT FRONT ON 30-11-2010

WB CPI (M) PUBLISHES BOOKLET ON MASSACRE OF INNOCENT PASSENGERS OF GYANESWARI EXPRESS BY PERVERTED MAOIST BUTCHERS AND RAPISTS

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MAMATA'S TRINAMOOL CONGRESS LED ZILLA PARISHAD OF SOUTH 24 PARGANAS TRAILING BEHIND IN ALL RESPECT


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KOLKATA: BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY RESORTS TO VANDALISM AND HOOLIGANISM IN THE NAME OF MARCHING TO WRITERS' BUILDINGS


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GURJANT SINGH LANDS IN SERIOUS FINANCIAL CRISIS DUE TO WHIMS OF MAMATA BANERJEE

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NATIONAL FORUM IN DEFENCE OF EDUCATION TO MARCH TO PARLIAMENT ON 02-12-2010 AGAINST ANTI-EDUCATION POLICIES OF UPA GOVERNMENT

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COMMONWEALTH GAMES: CBI OFFICERS RAID HOUSES OF FOUR OFFICERS CONNECTED WITH SCAM

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2G SPECTRUM: WHY DR. MANMOHAN SINGH AND SONIA GANDHI ARE AFRAID TO FORM JOINT PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE TO ENQUIRE THE SCAM

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JYOTI BASU AND SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR ROY: REACTION OF THE PEOPLE ON TWO DEATHS

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SO-CALLED MAMATA BANERJEE DEFENDS CORRUPTION AND SCAMS OF 2G SPECTRUM, ADARSH HOUSING, COMMONWEALTH GAMES AND SO ON. SHAME ON HER AND HER FRAUDULENCY

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