Settle Nandigram dispute, Calcutta HC tells CBI - The Times of India
Friday, July 26, 2013
Sunday, July 14, 2013
SARADHA CHIT FUND SCAM: SUPREME COURT OF INDIA SENDS NOTICE TO WEST BENGAL GOVERNMENT
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| সারদা গোষ্ঠীর মতো বেআইনি লগ্নি সংস্থাগুলির কাজকর্ম নিয়ে তদন্তের ভার সিবিআই-কে দেওয়ার ব্যাপারে পশ্চিমবঙ্গ সরকারের মতামত জানতে চাইল সুপ্রিম কোর্ট। এ রাজ্যের পাশাপাশি শুক্রবার ওড়িশা, গুজরাত, মহারাষ্ট্র এবং অন্ধ্রপ্রদেশকেও একই নোটিস জারি করেছে প্রধান বিচারপতি আলতামাস কবীরের বেঞ্চ। লগ্নি সংস্থাগুলির বেআইনি কাজকর্ম নিয়ে ওড়িশার এক আবেদনকারীর দায়ের করা মামলার পরিপ্রেক্ষিতেই এই নোটিস পাঠিয়েছে শীর্ষ আদালত। আবেদনকারীর আইনজীবীর দাবি, আদালতের প্রশ্নের জবাবে সিবিআই-এর তরফে ইতিমধ্যেই জানিয়ে দেওয়া হয়েছে যে, তদন্ত করতে তাদের কোনও আপত্তি নেই। এ দিকে, এই মামলা ও সিবিআই-এর সম্মতির পিছনে কংগ্রেসের হাত দেখছে তৃণমূল। ঘটনাচক্রে মামলাটি যিনি করেছেন, সেই অলোক জেনা অতীতে ওড়িশা থেকে কংগ্রেসের হয়ে ভোটে লড়েছেন। তিনি তাঁর আবেদনে বলেছেন, বিভিন্ন লগ্নি সংস্থার হাতে ওড়িশার ২০ লক্ষ পরিবার প্রতারিত হয়েছে। এই সব সংস্থাগুলির সঙ্গে রাজ্যের মন্ত্রী ও শাসক দলের বিধায়কদের ঘনিষ্ঠ সম্পর্কের অভিযোগ উঠেছে। শুধু ওড়িশা নয়, পশ্চিমবঙ্গ, অন্ধ্রপ্রদেশের মতো প্রতিবেশী রাজ্যগুলিতেও এই সংস্থাগুলি কারবার চালাচ্ছে। তাই গোটা বিষয়টির সিবিআই তদন্ত হোক। এই আবেদনের ভিত্তিতে সিবিআই-এর মত জানতে চায় সুপ্রিম কোর্ট। জেনার আইনজীবী সুরেশ ত্রিপাঠী বলেন, “সিবিআই-এর তরফে অতিরিক্ত সলিসিটর জেনারেল সিদ্ধার্থ লুথরা জানান, সিবিআই-প্রধান লিখিত ভাবে জানিয়েছেন, তদন্তের ভার নিতে কোনও আপত্তি নেই।” এর পরেই প্রধান বিচারপতি অন্য রাজ্যগুলিকে নোটিস জারি করে। রাজ্যগুলিকে চার সপ্তাহের মধ্যে সিবিআই তদন্ত নিয়ে অবস্থান জানাতে বলা হয়েছে। সারদা কাণ্ডের সিবিআই তদন্তের দাবি আগেই তুলেছিলেন পশ্চিমবঙ্গের কংগ্রেস নেতারা। কিন্তু এই সংক্রান্ত জনস্বার্থ মামলার রায়ে আপাতত রাজ্য পুলিশকে দিয়েই তদন্ত করানোর কথা বলেছে কলকাতা হাইকোর্ট। সেই রায়কে চ্যালেঞ্জ করে সুপ্রিম কোর্টে মামলা হয়েছে। তার পরেও ওড়িশা থেকে এই মামলা এবং তার উত্তরে সিবিআই-এর তদন্তে রাজি হওয়া সম্পর্কে তৃণমূল সাংসদ সৌগত রায়ের মন্তব্য, “তৃণমূলকে চাপে ফেলতে রাজনৈতিক উদ্দেশ্য নিয়েই কংগ্রেস এই সব মামলা করাচ্ছে। সিবিআই-কে দলীয় স্বার্থে ব্যবহার করছে তারা। কয়লা কেলেঙ্কারি-সহ একাধিক ক্ষেত্রে সিবিআই-এর নিরপেক্ষতা নিয়ে প্রশ্ন উঠেছে। খোদ শীর্ষ আদালত সেই প্রশ্ন তুলেছে।” তৃণমূল সাংসদদের বিরুদ্ধে সিবিআই-কে কাজে লাগানো হচ্ছে বলে অভিযোগ তৃণমূল নেত্রী মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়েরও। পঞ্চায়েত ভোটের প্রচারে গিয়ে একের পর এক জনসভায় কংগ্রেস নেতৃত্বাধীন কেন্দ্রীয় সরকারের বিরুদ্ধে ষড়যন্ত্রের অভিযোগ তুলছেন তিনি। তৃণমূল নেতাদের বক্তব্য, সারদা কাণ্ড নিয়ে যা যা তদন্ত করার দরকার, রাজ্য সরকার তা করছে। হাইকোর্টের নজরদারিতে সেই তদন্ত হচ্ছে। ফলে কংগ্রেস তাকে প্রবাবিত করার কোনও সুযোগ পাচ্ছে না। তাই কৌশলে ঘুরপথে সুপ্রিম কোর্টে সিবিআই তদন্তের দাবি তোলা হচ্ছে। প্রদেশ কংগ্রেস নেতা আব্দুল মান্নানের অবশ্য যুক্তি, “আমরা মানুষের স্বার্থেই সিবিআই তদন্ত চাইছি। ভবিষ্যতে যাতে এ ভাবে গরিব মানুষকে প্রতারিত না হতে হয়, সেটাও দেখা দরকার।” সুপ্রিম কোর্ট চার সপ্তাহ সময় দিলেও পশ্চিমবঙ্গের তরফে শুক্রবারই সিবিআই তদন্তের ব্যাপারে আপত্তি জানানো হয়েছে। রাজ্য সরকারের আইনজীবী (অ্যাডভোকেট-অন-রেকর্ড) অভিজিৎ ভট্টাচার্য প্রধান বিচারপতির সামনে যুক্তি দেন, এই মামলার সঙ্গে পশ্চিমবঙ্গের কোনও সম্পর্ক নেই। পশ্চিমবঙ্গ সরকারের বিরুদ্ধে কোনও অভিযোগও নেই। আবেদনকারীরা ওড়িশার জন্যই সিবিআই তদন্ত চাইছেন। তাই এই মামলায় পশ্চিমবঙ্গকে জড়ানোর কোনও অর্থই হয় না। প্রধান বিচারপতি তখন রাজ্যকে লিখিত বক্তব্য জানাতে বলেন। রাজ্যের সরকারি আইনজীবীদের বক্তব্য, আসলে অন্যান্য রাজ্যকে সামিল করা না হলে সংবিধানের ৩২ নম্বর অনুচ্ছেদ অনুযায়ী সুপ্রিম কোর্টে মামলা করা যায় না। শুধুই ওড়িশার বিষয় হলে সুপ্রিম কোর্ট রাজ্যের হাইকোর্টে যেতে বলবে। সেই কারণেই অন্য রাজ্যকে মামলায় জড়ানো হয়েছে। পশ্চিমবঙ্গের আইনজীবীর মতো ওড়িশার আইনজীবীও সুপ্রিম কোর্টে সিবিআই তদন্তের বিরোধিতা করেছেন। তারা যুক্তি দিয়েছেন, নবীন পট্টনায়কের সরকার বিচারবিভাগীয় কমিশন গঠন করেছে। রাজ্য পুলিশ এই মামলার তদন্ত করছে। প্রতারিত পরিবারগুলির সাহায্যের জন্য একটি তহবিল গঠন করা হয়েছে। কিন্তু অসম, ত্রিপুরার মতো রাজ্যগুলি আগেই সিবিআই তদন্তে সায় দিয়ে রাখায় চাপে থাকছে পশ্চিমবঙ্গ, ওড়িশা। এখন অন্ধ্র, মহারাষ্ট্র, গুজরাত কী অবস্থান নেয়, সেটাই দেখার। |
Translated, it means: “The two girls who are jumping around, I want to tell them, sisters, it seems good to jump around. It feels nice if one comes on television every day. I have a dark complexion, but even I like it if my face is shown on TV. Seeing these two girls, I am reminded of a film I had seen, Main Azaad Hoon, in which Amitabh Bachchan had acted. I hope they do not land up in a situation like Azaad’s after being pumped up by the media).”
They (Trinamul) had promised to end the misrule and stand by the poor,” Pratima, who has voted for Trinamul since the party’s birth, said, explaining how hopeful she was when it won both the zilla parishad and the Byabatarhat Pashchim gram panchayat, under whose area she lives. But her experience in the past five years has fallen far short of her expectations. Since their house collapsed, she and her family members have made several rounds of the gram panchayat office, seeking assistance under the housing scheme. “Nothing moves. They told us that we cannot get the benefit as we do not have a BPL card,” Pratima said.
KOLKATA: The telegram did not even get a proper send-off. Sunday was supposed to be the last day for the oldest communication service in India (and the last such in the world), but the CPM-led BSNL employees union in Kolkata pulled the plug on Friday, saying there was no way they would work on a second Saturday and Sunday because they wanted the service to carry on.- The Times of India
Saturday, July 13, 2013
KOLKATA: The hero of the Lalgarh uprising - Chhatradhar Mahato - is not keeping well. He has muscle cramps and blood clots leading to biting pain in his two hands. Mahato says in a written statement that he can't sleep without taking pain killers over the last six months since January, 2013. Mahato who had shared the dais with then Opposition leader Mamata Banerjee now complains of negligence against jail superintendent of Midnapore Jail - his present address. "I am suffering from a serious disease. My hands are getting numb in pain. I can't get over it without pain killers. The pain is back hours after," says Mahato in a statement on July 3.- The Times of India
SINGUR: The Mamata Banerjee government has finally woken up to the sell-out of fertile agricultural lands in Singur. Days after the TOI report on land sharks gobbling up farmland on the opposite flank of the abandoned Nano site along the Durgapur Expressway, the Hooghly Police has put up notice boards at Dankuni's Mollarber, prohibiting dumping of fly ash on agricultural land in the entire stretch.- The Times of India
SINGUR: The Mamata Banerjee government has finally woken up to the sell-out of fertile agricultural lands in Singur. Days after the TOI report on land sharks gobbling up farmland on the opposite flank of the abandoned Nano site along the Durgapur Expressway, the Hooghly Police has put up notice boards at Dankuni's Mollarber, prohibiting dumping of fly ash on agricultural land in the entire stretch.- The Times of India
BARASAT: Twenty-four residents of Kamduni started for Delhi on Saturday afternoon to meet the President and seek his intervention to ensure justice in the brutal rape-murder of a college student. President Pranab Mukherjee has already granted them an audition on July 15. He will meet 12 of them around 12.30 pm on Monday. - The Times of India
BARASAT: Twenty-four residents of Kamduni started for Delhi on Saturday afternoon to meet the President and seek his intervention to ensure justice in the brutal rape-murder of a college student. President Pranab Mukherjee has already granted them an audition on July 15. He will meet 12 of them around 12.30 pm on Monday. - The Times of India
NANDIGRAM: Amirul Islam is an active Bhumi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) member, who flaunts it in the same breath as his Trinamool Congress 'ties'. He has 37 criminal cases against him, in which he has got bail in only 17. Amirul had to spend another 27 days behind bars recently, till he was granted bail on May 31. This was not for the past cases though. It was because he chose to protest — and clash — with the local Trinamool Congress leadership, alleging rampant midday meal corruption in a local school, Samsabad Dhannotola Vidyapeeth, where his daughter studies as well. - The Times of India
KOLKATA: Days after chief minister Mamata Banerjee hit out at state election commissioner Mira Pande, saying she was given an extension by the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government, Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee took it a step ahead on Saturday and said he wouldn't be surprised if Pande contested elections on a CPM ticket. - The Times of India
KOLKATA: Days after chief minister Mamata Banerjee hit out at state election commissioner Mira Pande, saying she was given an extension by the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government, Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee took it a step ahead on Saturday and said he wouldn't be surprised if Pande contested elections on a CPM ticket. - The Times of India
JYOTI BASU’S CENTENARY OBSERVANCE CALLS FOR DEFENDING DEMOCRACY Jyoti Basu’s Centenary Observance
Jyoti Basu’s Centenary Observance Calls for Defending Democracy
From Our Special Correspondent in Kolkata
THE birth centenary of Comrade Jyoti Basu began on July 8 with a call to defend the ideology he represented and tirelessly worked for.
The CPI(M) state committee organised a public meeting in Mahajati Sadan in Kolkata which was addressed by Prakash Karat, general secretary of the CPI(M) Biman Basu, state secretary and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M). Leaders of the Left Front and other Left parties were present in the meeting. Thousands of people gathered to attend and had to listen to speakers standing outside on the road.
Speakers recalled the contributions of Jyoti Basu in the Left movement and in Indian politics.
The question of democracy, for which Jyoti Basu fought a long battle, came to the forefront. Prakash Karat said, ‘’West Bengal blazed a new trail in democratic decentralisation under the leadership of Basu through panchayati raj which was institutionalised much before the 73rd and 74th amendments of the Constitution. The spirit of democracy and the great experiment of democratic decentralisation which developed and flourished under Basu is now under severe and vicious attack. We are in the midst of a panchayat election that was sought to be scuttled and sabotaged by the powers that today are ruling West Bengal . The people, the Left Front and the democratic forces in the state will defend the legacy of Basu, who made the greatest contribution to the deepening of democracy in the country. They will fight back all these anti-democratic onslaughts that have been launched over the past two years in the state.”
“If you look back at the career of Basu, there is no other leader, irrespective of political party who has shown such a capacity, vision and determination to show that India remains and will be a democratic, federal and secular country,” Karat pointed out.
Describing Basu as a leader who knew how to work in parliamentary arena, Karat said he showed how a Communist Party should integrate work in the parliamentary forum with the movement outside.
“The birth centenary of Basu should not be just an occasion for us to commemorate and pay tribute to his glorious life,” he said. It would be more meaningful to utilise the year-long observance of the leader’s birth centenary to spread the ideas he stood for, Karat suggested.
“Whether it is a question of defence of democracy, defence of secularism or defence of working people, all contributing to a social transformation that will make India a more equitable and just society, this is what Basu stood for,” Karat said.
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee recalled the early life of Jyoti Basu and said that after returning from abroad, he decided that the path ofIndia
Bhattacharjee said, Jyoti Basu brought the question of workers and peasants to the centrestage even within the legislature. His speeches within state assembly in support of peasants’ and workers’ struggles were historic.
Bhattacharjee recalled how steadfastly Basu defended secularism and thwarted any attempts by communal forces when the Left Front government was in office. He said, ‘’We are faced with a new danger again. On the one hand, it is Congress with neoliberal policies and on the other hand, BJP with neoliberal policies plus Narendra Modi”. He added, the doors of this state have been opened to the BJP and Modi. This is frightening.
Bhattacharjee pointed out that the panchayats, which empowered the poor are under serious threat. He called upon the people and the Left activists to work hard to keep the panchayats in the hands of the poor.
Biman Basu, presiding over the meeting, outlined the struggling life of Jyoti Basu and how he built working class organisations despite heavy odds. He also reflected upon Jyoti Basu’s contribution to the cause of federalism in the country. It was Jyoti Basu who raised the demand of more powers to the states and brought the agenda to the centrestage of Indian politics.
CPI(M) also announced a year-long programme on the occasion of the birth centenary of Jyoti Basu. ''A wider programme cannot be chalked out initially as panchayat election is round the corner and also considering the fact that people will be busy in campaigns and polls,'' Biman Basu said. He said the Party would project the life and activities of Jyoti Basu through seminars, posters, documentaries and an effort for political education.
On July 8, red flags were hoisted in all parts of the state. In some districts, processions with Jyoti Basu’s portrait were organised. In many areas, blood donation camps were organised.
Respects were showered on Jyoti Basu in state assembly too. Leaders of different political parties paid rich tributes to Basu, particularly recalling his democratic way of functioning both as the opposition leader and chief minister and how he used to treat criticisms respectfully.
But the longest serving chief minister's centenary celebrations were surprisingly missing from the Writers' Buildings, where the present government has been observing birth anniversaries of luminaries throughout the year.
JYOTI BASU JYOTI Basu’s life and political work spanned an astonishingly long era. - UTSA PATNAIK
Jyoti Basu
(1914–2010)
Utsa Patnaik
JYOTI Basu’s life and political work spanned an astonishingly long era. His very early childhood was spent in Calcutta during the First World War, and by the time he was a college student, first at St Xavier’s and later Presidency College , both India England England with fascism rising in Europe , and underwent a decisive intellectual transition, becoming a strong and lifelong adherent of Marxism with the resolve to enter the arena of political struggle. When he returned and joined the illegal Communist Party of India in 1940, war had already broken out in Europe and was to engulf the Asian theatre less than two years later. This was followed by the great Bengal Famine, the tumultuous years of Partition, communal riots and Independence
The meteoric rise of the Left in Bengal and its consolidation, the repeated evidence of trust and confidence the masses of Bengal have reposed in the Left for over three decades, and Jyoti Basu’s role in it cannot be understood without some understanding of the situation of Bengal after Independence
Today very few people have any knowledge of the extreme poverty and destitution to which the ordinary people in Bengal had been reduced by the time Independence came, least of all Bengal’s own bhadralok intellectuals whose unremitting ‘western gaze’ has meant their being hegemonised by false theories emanating from Northern universities. In fact many of these intellectuals are making comfortable positions for themselves in foreign universities by denigrating our national freedom movement in some form or the other. The people belonging to that generation in Bengal which is now in its mid-forties or less in age, have known nothing but Left rule since they began to be aware of politics at all. Therefore few commentators today have any understanding of the situation before that rule or the significance of the progress the people have made, even though there has been some predictable reversal in the neo-liberal era in the trend of progress. A brief recapitulation of the results of Bengal ’s long subjugation and the legacy it inherited may not be out of place.
Bengal was the very first region of India India , with the annexation of Punjab coming almost a century later in 1848. Bengal experienced a paradoxical type of ‘development’: it was systematically ripped off by Britain Calcutta grew ever larger as the port city through which unpaid exports were sent out of the country, and Lancashire textiles were imported to the detriment of Bengal ’s spinners and weavers. All of this provided employment to traders, transporters and port coolies so that the proportion of workers in tertiary or service sector activities went up while the proportion working in manufacturing fell, and this remained true even with jute and cotton textile mills coming up.
The inter-war depression affected rural people badly as crop prices declined, and so did employment. Between 1911 and 1947, per capita food grains availability fell by 38 per cent in undivided Bengal , mainly because there was absolute decline in rice output as more land and resources went to the export crops the rulers wanted. In no other province was the situation so bad as to lead to an absolute fall in foodgrain output itself, although every other province saw a fall in per head grain output. Long-term impoverishment and lowered nutrition reduced the resistance of the population in Bengal and made it more vulnerable to the shock of the great famine.
The history of colonised Bengal had begun with a massive famine, the 1770 famine which killed an estimated one-third of the population; and it ended with another massive famine, the famine of 1943–44 which killed over 30 lakh persons and reduced five times that number to utter destitution. This was a famine created by the British government which placed the entire burden of financing Allied troops and air operations in the anti-Japan war, on India Britain should have met, was imposed on the people of Bengal , and the price they were made to pay was over thirty-one lakh lives. But all this does not alter the bhadralok intellectuals’ reverence for all things western, and we do not find to this day a single realistic economic analysis of the Bengal famine which places the blame where it belongs, on the deliberate policy pursued by the imperialists to put the burden of war finance on defenceless peasants and artisans of India in general and on Bengal in particular. No people have perhaps suffered as much as the people of Bengal have done under colonial rule, and none has been more badly served by its west-oriented liberal intellectuals – a proposition which remains true to this day. Those who have served the people well have been the political activists of the Communist movement including pre-eminently Jyoti Basu, who de-classed themselves from bhadralokservility by their adherence to and practice of Marxism.
As early as 1940, the Floud Commission (Land Revenue Commission, Bengal), in its report, had drawn attention to the fact that actual tenant cultivators could not be called labourers since they provided the cattle, ploughs, all inputs and their labour, but had to hand over half their gross produce including by-products as rent to the superior right holder. Though an Act was on the anvil to increase the share of the bargadar, nothing was done by the government led by Suhrawardy, who admitted to Jyoti Basu (as he points out in his memoirs) opposition from landed interests as the reason. After the war ended, the peasantry was prepared to wait no longer. A major agrarian agitation erupted, the Tebhaga movement, which demanded increase of the adhiyar–bargadar’s share to two-thirds of the crop. This was led by the Krishak Front of the Communist Party and was particularly active in the districts of Mymensingh, Barisal , Rangpur, Dinajpur, Jessore, Khulna Pakistan
FORMIDABLE TASK OF
RECONSTRUCTION
Quite apart from the actual loss of lives in the famine, by the time of Independence , Jyoti Basu’s Bengal was flooded with millions of peasants and artisans reduced to destitution, and millions of people poured in from the eastern part of Bengal after Partition. Nevertheless, the joy of political independence was irrepressible and the ultra-left slogan ‘Yeh azadi jhuti hai’ (‘This freedom is a lie’) found few takers. Reconstruction was a formidable task and without the work of the communists among the refugee population and the peasantry from whom they recruited new cadres, the successive Congress governments would have got nowhere. Although the West Bengal Estates Acquisition Act and the West Bengal Land Reforms Act had been passed by 1953 and 1955 respectively, implementation was slow and the festering unresolved agrarian problem meant that the vital agricultural sector remained in the doldrums. Shortages persisted, reaching crisis point in many years. The Food Movement of 1959 was a landmark agitation the Communist Party undertook. During the India–China conflict in 1962 large numbers of communists in India
Soon afterwards the Party in Bengal had to contend with left adventurism and its violent cult of individual assassinations as the Naxalbari movement erupted. Large numbers of cadres lost their lives in this period with the ensuing repression. A split in a communist movement can be dangerous if either right revisionism on the one hand or left adventurism on the other, dominates and the militant middle, despite its correct line, cannot carry the majority of the members. While in Bengal the split and subsequent challenges were successfully handled, in Andhra Pradesh that had one of the strongest units of the CPI and with the proud legacy of the Telengana movement, decimation unfortunately resulted since large numbers of cadres went with either one or the other wrong trend. We see today again the rise of left adventurism and massacres of the innocent in the country, and while it faces inevitable defeat, before that occurs it will take a heavy toll in lives in the years to come.
UNPRECEDENTED
RECORD
While Jyoti Basu had served in the 1967–70 United Front government as well, the opportunity to make a real difference to the miserable situation of the people of Bengal came with the electoral victory of the Left Front and government formation by the coalition led by the CPI(M). The Left Front was repeatedly voted back to power by the people of Bengal in five successive elections after that, creating a world record of governance by communists within a federal parliamentary system, continuously for thirty-three years to date. What explains this unprecedented record which, it can be confidently stated, will never be broken in any other country? So anti-egalitarian is the economic and social structure in this country and so deeply rooted are the consequent structures of exploitation, that any sincere attempt to break this structure and to ameliorate the condition of the masses produces an overwhelming response from them. They gave their loyalty in abundance. The bhadralok in the cities and the rural elites continued in the main to pursue their conservative agenda, but the rural masses and the working classes were solidly behind the Left Front policies.
Bengal was the only state which had put a ceiling on land-holding from the very beginning in the legislation, abolishing zamindari in the West Bengal Estates Acquisition Act 1953, and nearly eight lakh acres of land was estimated to be surplus above ceiling. Between 1967 and 1970, with the first United Front government in which Jyoti Basu served, six lakh acres were distributed. Later amendments lowered the ceiling to 6.2 standard acres subject to a maximum of 17.3 standard acres for a nine-member family. After the Left Front assumed power, within a matter of three years between 1977 and 1980, nearly 10 lakh acres more ceiling surplus land was identified and three-quarters of this actually distributed within a few years. These implementation measures resulted in a larger area of ceiling-surplus land being distributed to the landless in West Bengal alone under Left Front rule by year 2000, than in several other states ofIndia
But the abolition of zamindari estates did not mean a complete land reform or end of rentiers, for zamindars were only the very top of an entire pyramid of intermediaries who performed no labour but lived on the surplus produced by the actual tillers, the majority of whom had no legal existence since they were unrecorded sharecroppers. They still had to hand over half their gross output to the jotedar even when they provided the livestock assets, working capital and labour. In Bihar , an attempt to register the actual cultivators had to be called off owing to landlord resistance. In Bengal , it was the vision and determination of Jyoti Basu and Harekrishna Konar, supported by Benoy Chaudhuri, which accounted for Operation Barga being carried through. Democratic participation was the very essence of this vision. As Harekrishna Konar had put it: "The indispensable condition for success in implementation is that the agricultural labourers, poor peasants, bataidars, who are really interested in land reform, must be roused; their initiative and courage will have to be developed so that they can stand up before the mighty power of the landlords and they must be asked to come forward in an organised way to help the government to implement."
The innovative strategy of taking administration to the villages, of involving local peasant organisations, panchayats and potential beneficiaries themselves, while using to the full the hitherto unutilised provisions of the law, worked. Particularly noteworthy is the use of the Indian Evidence Act, which permits oral evidence to be collected and presented to counter the written documents marshalled by the powerful landlords to deny legal rights in the courts to the sharecroppers on oral leases. All measures of land reform taken together, including distribution of homestead land, are estimated to have benefited nearly three-fifths of rural households. Jyoti Basu was acutely conscious that whatever had been achieved was only implementation of the democratic tasks of the bourgeoisie, which the latter itself was no longer capable of implementing, and very far from any completely egalitarian radical land redistribution which is part of the socialist agenda. He repeatedly pointed out that Bengal had to function within a legal system which safeguarded private property and a federal structure which restricted the measures which could be taken, that it was ‘not the republic of West Bengal’. Nevertheless with all caveats, what had been achieved was of tremendous significance in unleashing the confidence of the masses, enabling them to pull themselves up by their own efforts out of the mire of acute poverty and degradation.
The 1980s was the golden decade for India and particularly for Bengal , while the impetus was maintained well into the 1990s. Revival and vigorous functioning of local self-government institutions, combined with the fresh impetus to productivity in rural areas, led to Bengal surging ahead with the highest annual rate of foodgrain growth in the whole of India India
There was a substantial positive trend growth in employment and incomes in both rural and urban Bengal, and the consumption expenditure data show that a larger decline took place in poverty in Bengal than in any other state. Of course, given the fact that the initial level of destitution, for the reasons analysed earlier, was much higher in Bengal than in most other regions, even this large order of improvement did not mean that all the problems of Bengal’s poor were solved. Medical services’ expansion to the required extent was thwarted by urban doctors with a dog-in-the-manger attitude – refusing to serve in rural areas, they nevertheless agitated against a plan to have a special health worker cadre with a shorter training period to deliver basic health care. They acted as a selfish professional group bent on maintaining their monopoly of skills, and they continue to constitute a highly conservative body at the national level, determined to exclude deprived social groups from their ranks. Despite these problems, one must appreciate the remarkable improvement in many important aspects of welfare that Bengal achieved.
National Sample Survey (NSS) data show that while in 1977–78, when the Left Front first assumed government, as much as 40 percent of the rural population in West Bengal could not spend enough to access even 1,800 calories energy, a very low level, fifteen years later, by 1993–94, this proportion had dropped to 17 percent, the largest reduction in extreme poverty anywhere in India over any period. Thus nearly a quarter of the population, constituting the very poor, had moved up in nutritional status. The significance of this may be judged by a comparison – in rural Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamilnadu in 1993–94, as much as 36, 38 and 43 percent of the population respectively was unable to get even 1,800 calories per day. For a state which had come through a traumatic war-time famine and rural destitution, the large order of improvement in the situation of the poor in Bengal was a particularly important achievement. While in rural Bengal in 1977–78, as much as 67 percent of the population could not spend enough to obtain even 2,100 calories daily, fifteen years later this figure had dropped to 42 percent. Similarly there was a substantial decline in urban poverty as well, to 18 percent below an 1,800 calorie intake by 1993–94, much lower than in other urbanised states. After 1991 there was very sharp contraction in public spending by the central government and all states as neo-liberal policies were imposed on the people.West Bengal too was obliged to engage in public spending cuts as there was substantially reduced tax devolution from the central government and loans carried very high interest.
After the demolition of the Babri Masjid and rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) elsewhere, a young Bengali intellectual was heard by this author to remark rather complacently that Bengalis were not communally minded, unlike people in other states, and right-wing communal forces could make little headway. This understanding however underestimates the strength of communal–chauvinist forces in Bengal, forgets communal riots during Partition, and does not give due credit to the unremitting struggle of the Left parties against communalism and in promoting progressive thinking, which marginalised these forces but which have never been fully defeated. It should be remembered that it was a Bengali who had provided leadership of the Hindu Mahasabha and set up the Jan Sangh, which was to reinvent itself as the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 1970s. It was Bengal which had spawned chauvinist organisations of the extreme right such as Anand Marg and Amra Bangali. After the assumption of government by the Left Front, no quarter was given to communal forces; the parties representing these forces and their violent behaviour was described by Jyoti Basu as ‘uncivilised’, an adjective the use of which was very typical of the man and which incensed the BJP leaders. Jyoti Basu took decisive action to smash every attempt – and they did occur – by right-wing forces to promote communal disharmony in Bengal . For over three decades while other areas of the country saw instigation of violence and communal rioting, including the capital Delhi which went up in flames in 1984, in Bengal minority communities have felt safe because Bengal has been made to remain free of communal violence. And that has been a major achievement of Jyoti Basu and the movement he led.
Jyoti Basu wrote his own epitaph thus – ‘There is nothing more valuable in life than the love of the people. We are always ready to sacrifice our lives for a greater cause.’ A most remarkable life, spent in struggle and service of the exploited. A life to be emulated, but impossible to emulate.
This article was published in Social Scientist, Issue 446–447, Volume 38, Numbers 7–8, July–August 2010. Sub-Headings have been added - Ed
JOINING the nation in its grief over the loss of life and destruction of property in the recent Uttarakhand floods, the Income Tax Employees Federation (ITEF) has decided that each one of its members would donate one day’s salary to the Prime Minister’s Uttarakhand Relief Fund in order to contribute to providing relief and support for restoration.
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ITEF Donation for Uttarakhand Relief
JOINING the nation in its grief over the loss of life and destruction of property in the recent Uttarakhand floods, the Income Tax Employees Federation (ITEF) has decided that each one of its members would donate one day’s salary to the Prime Minister’s Uttarakhand Relief Fund in order to contribute to providing relief and support for restoration.
Through a statement issued by its secretary general K P Rajagopal from New Delhi on June 8, the ITEF, which is the sole representative association of about 50,000 employees in India, said the average one day salary of each employee of the Income Tax Department is about one thousand rupees, and thus the total contribution from the employees will be about five crore rupees. To ensure speedy and proper remittance of this amount to the relief fund, and since all the income tax employees are ITEF members, the federation has asked the department to deduct the donation from the salaries of the employees and remit the same to the Prime Minister’s Uttarakhand Relief Fund directly.
WORKERS FIGHT AGAINST DISINVESTMENT IN NEYVELI LIGNITE CORPORATION
FIGHT AGAINST DISINVESTMENT
Central TUs Support NLC Workers’ Strike
THROUGH a joint statement issued from New Delhi
The central trade unions denounced the government for repeatedly pushing divestment of equity of excellently performing (both physical and financial) central public sector enterprises (CPSEs), amounting to partial privatisation of the CPSEs. This is taking place even in a strategic sector like energy --- coal, electricity, oil and natural gas.
The central trade unions noted that the NLC is a navratna CPSE under the union ministry of coal. The NLC has been exceeding the production performance targets in respect of exploration and mining of lignite and generation of power. Similarly, in respect of financial performance also, the NLC has been putting up excellent performance. During the fiscal 2011-12, the NLC paid to the government an amount of Rs 1,116.53 crore by way of dividend, taxes and duties, out of a net profit of Rs 1,411.33 crore.
The central trade unions further noted that the number of struggles against divestment of equity in the CPSEs, upholding the collective decision of the total unity platform of central trade unions, has been increasing in the country. The central trade unions urged upon the government to reverse its decision of divestment of equity in the NLC immediately, so that cordial industrial relations and production could be restored in the corporation.
At the same time, the central trade unions have assured the NLC workers that the trade union movement in the country would continue to support their strike action in opposition to the divestment of equity. Further, central trade unions made an appeal to the working class in general and that in the CPSEs in particular to extend active solidarity support to the striking NLC workers in suitable and appropriate forms all over the country.
SFI CONDEMNS POLICE ACTION ON ITS ACTIVISTS IN DELHI
SFI CONDEMNS POLICE ACTION ON ITS ACTIVISTS IN DELHI
The central executive committee of the Students’ Federation of India issued the following press statement on July 9, 2013.
NINE comrades of SFI (seven of whom are CEC members) including all India president V Sivadasan were arrested on July 9 in New Delhi, when they were protesting at Kerala House against Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy, against whom fresh evidences have been found in the solar panel scam.
Crores of hard earned money has been pumped in a scheme which has helped persons like Saritha Nair and Biju Balakrishnan, who are known to be close to the CM. While on one hand, Oommen Chandy’s role in corruption is becoming clear with every passing day, the UDF government of Kerala continues to shamelessly defend its head. A protest demonstration by youth activists on July 8 was brutally lathicharged by the Kerala police. Youth Congress goons were given a free run by the police in attacking the Left activists. Noor Mohammad, all India vice president, and all India joint secretaries P Laxmaiah and Shatrarup Ghosh were also arrested on July 9 in New Delhi.
The central executive committee condemns the police action in New Delhi today, as well the continuous brutal assault on the protesters in Kerala in the last few days. What we are witnessing in Kerala is actually the face of Congress throughout the country, where they are neck deep in mega scams and loot of public money everywhere.
Jyoti Basu’s Centenary Observed at A K G Bhavan
Jyoti Basu’s Centenary Observed at A K G Bhavan
Comrade Jyoti Basu’s birth centenary was observed at the Party headquarters, A K G Bhawan in New Delhi Delhi
CITU OBSERVES COMRADE JYOTI BASU'S BIRTH CENTENARY
CITU Observes Comrade Jyoti Basu’s Birth
Centenary
AS part of the decision of its 14th All
India Conference to celebrate the birth centenary of Comrade Jyoti Basu, the
Centre of Indian Trade Unions has organised programmes in different parts of
the country on July 8. A K Padmanabhan, president of the CITU inaugurated
the year-long celebration of the birth centenary of Comrade Jyoti Basu at the
CITU headquarters, BTR Bhawan in New Delhi July 8, 2013 to July 8, 2014 .
After offering
floral tributes to the great revolutionary leader, a meeting was held at the
CITU centre. In his speech, A K Padmanabhan said Comrade Jyoti Basu started his
trade union activities in the 1940’s, mobilising the railway workers. He made a
remarkable contribution to the Indian trade union movement. He was a teacher,
orator, ruler, trade union leader, internationally known communist leader from India
THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the bomb blasts in Bodhgaya, a venerated place of worship for millions of believers across the world. It is fortunate that no serious damage was done to the Mahabodhi temple and the Bodhi tree, although it is a matter of serious concern that some monks suffered injuries.
Bodhgaya: Nab Culprits, Beef up Security
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India
THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the bomb blasts in Bodhgaya, a venerated place of worship for millions of believers across the world. It is fortunate that no serious damage was done to the Mahabodhi temple and the Bodhi tree, although it is a matter of serious concern that some monks suffered injuries.
No effort should be spared to identify and nab the culprits responsible for this heinous crime. It is also necessary to inquire how the criminals could have access to the area which was supposedly under security cover, with police posted on the premises. Once again the issue of better and sustained coordination between the centre and state governments comes to the forefront as does that of the capacity of intelligence agencies. On both fronts the government has to take urgent steps.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
বাইকবাহিনী নিয়ে প্রচার বন্ধ করলো কমিশন
Ganashakti
বাইকবাহিনী নিয়ে প্রচার বন্ধ করলো কমিশন
- See more at: http://ganashakti.com/bengali/breaking_news_details.php?newsid=1290#sthash.Mmp8zF8U.dpuf
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বাইকবাহিনী নিয়ে প্রচার বন্ধ করলো কমিশন
নিজস্ব প্রতিনিধি : কলকাতা, ৮ই জুলাই— পঞ্চায়েত নির্বাচনের প্রচারে একটির বেশি মোটর বাইক ব্যবহার করা যাবে না। রবিবারই এই মর্মে ১৭টি জেলাতেই নির্দেশ পাঠিয়ে দিয়েছে রাজ্য নির্বাচন কমিশন। প্রসঙ্গত, ৩রা জুলাই রাজ্য বামফ্রন্ট কমিশনে স্মারকলিপি দিয়ে জানায় গোটা রাজ্যের প্রায় সর্বত্র বাইকবাহিনীর দাপটে গ্রামের মানুষ ভীত, সন্ত্রস্ত। বিরোধী দলের প্রার্থীরা প্রচারে বেরোতে পারছেন না। গ্রামে গ্রামে শাসক দলের ইন্ধনে বাইকবাহিনী ঢুকে মানুষকে হুমকি দিচ্ছে। বাইকবাহিনীর এই দাপটের ফলে গ্রামে গ্রামে নৈরাজ্যের পরিবেশ তৈরি হয়েছে। অবিলম্বে শাসক দলের প্রার্থীদের সপক্ষে প্রচারে বাইকবাহিনীর দাপট বন্ধ করার দাবি জানায় রাজ্য বামফ্রন্ট। পরে ৬ই জুলাই কমিশনে সর্বদলীয় বৈঠকে বামদলগুলির সঙ্গে এই বিষয়ে একই সুরে অভিযোগ তোলে কংগ্রেস, বি জে পি-সহ অন্যান্য রাজনৈতিক দলগুলি। শাসক দল তৃণমূল অবশ্য সর্বদলীয় বৈঠক বয়কট করেছিলো। বিরোধী দলগুলির হাজার আপত্তি সত্ত্বেও গ্রামেগঞ্জে বাইকবাহিনীর দাপট চলতেই থাকে। রবিবার পশ্চিম মেদিনীপুরের দাঁতনে রাজ্যের পরিবহনমন্ত্রী মদন মিত্র রোড শো করেন। সেখানে প্রায় ৮০০টি বাইক ১৫০০ জন সওয়ার ছিলেন। এরপরেই রাজ্য নির্বাচন কমিশন নড়েচড়ে বসে। সোমবার কমিশনের সচিব তাপস রায় বলেন, প্রচারের সময় একটির বেশি বাইক ব্যবহার করা যাবে না। যদি বিশেষ কারণে একটির বেশি বাইক ব্যবহার করতে হয় তাহলে সংশ্লিষ্ট প্রার্থী বা রাজনৈতিক দলকে পুলিস এবং জেলা প্রশাসনের অনুমতি নিতে হবে। না হলে পুলিস আইনানুগ ব্যবস্থা নেবে। এদিন কমিশনের দপ্তরে চতুর্থ এবং পঞ্চম দফায় যে ৮ জেলায় ভোটগ্রহণ করা হবে সেখানকার জেলাশাসক ও পুলিস সুপারদের বৈঠক ছিলো। ওই বৈঠকেও প্রচারে বাইক ব্যবহারের প্রসঙ্গটি জানিয়ে দেন নির্বাচন কমিশনার মীরা পাণ্ডে।
এদিকে প্রথম দফায় তিন জেলা বাঁকুড়া, পুরুলিয়া এবং পশ্চিম মেদিনীপুরে ভোটের প্রচার মঙ্গলবার বিকেল ৫টায় শেষ হচ্ছে। ১১ই জুলাই তিন জেলায় ভোট গ্রহণ। প্রথম দফায় প্রায় ৭৪ লক্ষ ৪৫ হাজার ৬২১জন ভোটদাতা রয়েছেন। এরমধ্যে পশ্চিম মেদিনীপুরে রয়েছেন ৩৪ লক্ষ ৬৮ হাজার ৪১০ জন ভোটার। বাঁকুড়া জেলায় ভোটার সংখ্যা ২২ লক্ষ ৫৩ হাজার ৪০৪ জন। পুরুলিয়াতে ভোটদাতা রয়েছেন ১৭ লক্ষ ২৩ হাজার ৮০৭ জন। প্রথম দফায় ভোটের দিন তিন জেলায় নিরাপত্তার দায়িত্বে থাকার কথা ৪৮ হাজার ৬২৮ জন নিরাপত্তা রক্ষীর। কিন্তু একটা অদ্ভুত ব্যাপার হলো, সোমবার সন্ধ্যা পর্যন্ত রাজ্যের পক্ষ থেকে প্রথম দফার তিন জেলায় কতজন সশস্ত্র পুলিস পাঠানো হয়েছে, সেই তথ্য নেই। সুপ্রিম কোর্টের নির্দেশ মতো কেন্দ্রীয় বাহিনী প্রথম দফায় ১৫০ কোম্পানি পাঠানোর কথা আর রাজ্য সরকারের দেওয়ার কথা ৩৫০ কোম্পানি। কমিশনের সচিব জানান, প্রচার পর্ব বন্ধ হয়ে যাবার পর থেকে এলাকার ভোটার নন এমন কেউ-ই আর সংশ্লিষ্ট এলাকায় ঢুকতে পারবেন না। প্রসঙ্গটি ওঠে, এলাকার ভোটার নন এমন সাংসদ, বিধায়ক, রাজনৈতিক নেতা বা অন্যান্য জনপ্রতিনিধিদের ক্ষেত্রে ভোটের দিন কী বাধানিষেধ রয়েছে তা নিয়ে। সচিব বলেন, ১১ তারিখে যে সমস্ত এলাকায় ভোটগ্রহণ সেখানে ৯ই বিকেল ৫টায় প্রচার শেষ হচ্ছে। অর্থাৎ ৯ই বিকেল ৫টার পর থেকে এলাকার ভোটার না হলে বিধায়ক, সাংসদ, মন্ত্রী যেই হোন ঢুকতে পারবেন না।
ভরা বর্ষা এবং রমজান মাসের দিকে তাকিয়ে রাজ্য বামফ্রন্টের পক্ষ থেকে ভোটগ্রহণের সময় এক ঘণ্টা এগিয়ে এনে সকাল ৬টা থেকে বিকেল ৪টে পর্যন্ত করার যে প্রস্তাব দেওয়া হয়েছিলো রাজ্য সরকারের সে বিষয়ে কোনো মতামত না আসায় ভোট গ্রহণের সময়ের কোনো পরিবর্তন হচ্ছে না। সকাল ৭টা থেকে বিকেল ৫টা পর্যন্তই ভোটগ্রহণ করা হবে। কমিশনের সচিব বলেন, বিজ্ঞপ্তি জারির সময়ই ভোটগ্রহণের সময়ও রাজ্য সরকার ঠিক করে দেয়। নতুন করে আর সময় পরিবর্তনের ব্যাপারে রাজ্য সরকার কিছু জানায়নি। তবে রমজান মাসে যে সমস্ত ভোটকর্মী রোজা রাখেন তাঁদের জন্য ইফ্তার এবং সেহেরির সময় কিছু খাবারের ব্যবস্থা করতে বলা হয়েছে সমস্ত জেলার জেলাশাসককে। ভোটার যাঁরা রোজা রাখেন তাঁরা যাতে সকাল সকাল এসে দ্রুত ভোট দিয়ে বাড়ি ফিরে যেতে পারেন তারজন্য সমস্ত প্রিজাইডিং অফিসারকে মৌখিকভাবে বলে দেওয়া হচ্ছে।
উত্তরবঙ্গে বেশ কয়েকটি নদীতে জলস্তর বাড়ছে। এদিন কমিশনের দপ্তরে বৈঠকে উত্তরবঙ্গের জেলাগুলির প্রশাসনিক কর্তারা এমনই আশঙ্কার কথা জানিয়েছেন। জলপাইগুড়ির জেলাশাসক কয়েকটি বিশেষ বিশেষ জায়গায় হাতিকে কাজে লাগাবার ইচ্ছা প্রকাশ করেছেন। বৃষ্টি এবং বন্যা পরিস্থিতি মোকাবিলা করে ভোট গ্রহণ পর্ব কী ভাবে সুষ্ঠুভাবে শেষ করা যায় তার উপরই এখন সর্বাধিক গুরুত্ব দিচ্ছে কমিশন। আইন-শৃঙ্খলার প্রশ্নে বিশেষ নজর থাকছে মুর্শিদাবাদ জেলার উপর।
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