Elaan: The Clarion Call

Editorial Note

2010-03-20T17:57:00.000-07:00

From this edition onwards we are going to carry articles and news items sent by our readers. Due to space constraints we will however edit these articles but at the same time save the original article in case any reader wishes to read the entire piece.

Media Abetting Crimes Against Women

2010-03-20T17:53:00.000-07:00

Nirjhari Sinha

A century has passed since 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. In 1910 the first international women's conference was held in Copenhagen in the labour-movement building. Ever since, the 'International Women's Day' has been observed and the next was held on March 19, 1911 in Germany, Austria, Denmark and some other European countries.

Russian revolutionary and feminist, Alexandra Kollontai, had helped to organise the event in Germany wrote that it had exceeded all expectations...Germany and Austria were seething and trembling in the sea of women. Meetings were organised everywhere…..in the small towns and even in the villages, halls were packed so full that they had to ask (male) workers to give up their places for the women.

A hundred years after that glorious march of the women, what is the image of the Indian Woman that is being beamed into our living rooms every day? What stories do Santu, Jyoti, Amoli, Anandi, Sia and scores of other women tell us every evening? To be a true Indian woman, you have to accept the traditional rule of the patriarchal hierarchy and completely sacrifice her own wants and desires! Nay, not just wants and desires but her own identity and existence!

Law today emphatically prohibits female infanticide, child marriage and sexual abuse of any woman. But what does Amma do in LAADO? Openly murders the female child and reduces the rebel Sia into a servile maid servant. Anandi, the helpless child bride of BALIKAVADHU, is abused harassed and kicked around by Dadidsa who can get away with every type of ill treatment of her Bahus (daughter-in-law). In Jyoti serial allows Shushi to be used as a prostitute to satisfy the material needs of her husband and Jyoti herself is kicked out on false charges of adultery with her “loving' husband turning a “blind eye”. In BANDINI, Santu enjoys her captive role and tolerates the abuse as a “low caste woman” as a good virtue in order to become a role model for all mothers. The worst ofcourse is “Bairi Piya” that for nights together shows the sexual exploits of the “Thakur”(landlord) on Amoli whose own husband is portrayed as the spineless servant who gifts his married wife to his master for his sexual pleasures! One wonders why the different woman's organization are so conspicuously silent ; does it not concern the National Woman's Commission when the national channels beam such vulgarity about women?

The two channels that promote such disgusting and loathsome serials are ofcourse making loads of money. NDTV Imagine {Bandini, Jyoti etc}and COLORS (Laado, Balikavadhu, Bairi Piya etc.) have increased their TRP substantially and millions watch these serials with bated breath. Both these channels belong to very reputed groups; the former being a part of NDTV and the latter being a part of Viacom 18 that partners with Network 18, the CNN-IBN group. Wonder whether people like Barkha Dutt, Pranay Roy, Rajdeep Sardesai etc ever watch their own group's productions and deal with such issues in their “We the People” and “Big Fights”!

Be that as it may, on this day of International Woman's Day, it is a tragedy what we have reduced this day to a ritual, unconcerned about the real state of the woman in this country. The media which can influence a large section of the populations portrays her as a “BANDINI”. Are we going to accept this image?

Editorial

2010-03-20T17:35:00.000-07:00

The End of the Mixed (Fixed?) Economy

Kamalnath speaking in the NDTV program on Budget was indeed candid. In reply to a question by Pranay Roy, he stated without the slightest hesitation that the objective of the present budget was to shift the development of the country to the private sector unlike the 1970s when the onus was on the Public sector to push the economic development. The Nehruvian era is finally over!

But the issue is not one of just making political statements. Hard money is required to be transferred to the private kitty and the finance minister as well as the railway minister does this job remarkably well. Disinvestments, reduction of farmers subsidy, massive investment in infrastructural development (20km of highway per day!), increase in NREG to upset the land-loss of the rural poor due to industrial SEZ and reduction of tax rates in different income slabs to increase the purchase power of the urban middle class are all green signals for the private sector.
The Finance Minister has targeted Gross tax receipts of Rs. 7.46 Lac Crores. To achieve this target the Finance Minister plans to get a net revenue from direct tax proposals to the tune of Rs 20,500 Cr and indirect taxes Rs 46,500 Cr. No tax on Income up to Rs 1.6 lacs. . 30% tax on income above Rs 8 lacs. 20% tax on income between Rs5 lacs to 8 lacs. 10% tax on income between Rs1.6 lacs to 5 lacs. Finally increase in petrol and diesel price to reduce the deficit. Defence Capital Expenditure raised to Rs 60000 Cr. Allocation fund to defence raised to Rs 1.47 lac Cr.

It won't be long before defense production is shifted to the private sector as well. All is well for the Tata Ambanis and hell with the aam admi!

Rape, Murder and Dowry Death in Gujarat

Gujarat has been set as a standard for development. Whenever Narendra Modi is called to other states to campaign for BJP in any election, he never forgets to announce the great heights achieved by Gujarat. He never forgets to boast how safe women are in Gujarat. The figures of crime against women recorded in Police-register are an eye-opener.

Two activists had sought information under right to information act in October 2007, about crime against women during the years 2002-2007.Additional DIG, crime and railways, Gandhinagar refused to part with information. Finally an appeal was filed to chief commissioner, Gujarat. After two years of persuasion following information was obtained.

The following statistics are devastating. It proves that women are most unsafe in 'Swarnim' Gujarat and this insecurity is increasing with time! A Century after the first International Womens' Day, there is indeed nothing to celebrate for.

Reader's Article - 69 farmer commit suicides in Adilabad district

2010-03-20T17:32:00.000-07:00

V.L. Padma Priya

Sixty-nine farmers from Adilabad district committed suicide during the Kharif season that lasted from August to November. The number grew to 93 by December 15. If reports from the Non Governmental Organisations and farmers' associations in Andhra Pradesh are to be believed, failure of Kharif crop and mounting debts are stated to be the reasons for the spate of suicides across various mandals of the district.
In the first week of November itself, over 16 suicides were reported in vernacular newspapers and that's when we put together this committee to ascertain the facts. The committee came up with a report confirming 69 cases of suicide during the Kharif season. Majority of the farmers who took the extreme step had taken large amounts of loans from private usurers and micro-finance operators at high interest rate in order to cultivate cotton, revealed the report.

Confirming the report by the committee, S. Malla Reddy, vice president, Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham says over 93 suicide deaths were recorded by the Sangham by December 15, 2009. “The minimum cost of cultivation per acre is around Rs.12,000 so a farmer would require a harvest of six quintals per acre merely to break-even,” he points out. Though the minimum support price for cotton in Kharif 2009 stood at Rs.3000, the low yield-- almost half of the previous year-- pushed the farmers deeper into debts”, the report points out.

Charles Robert Darwin: 200 years after evolution

2010-03-20T17:30:00.000-07:00

Mukul Sinha

Life on earth has been evolving since millions of years but we realised of it just 200 hundred years ago. The credit ought to go to Charles Robert Darwin, the author of the “On the origin of Species”. He was born on 12 February 1809 in England and was a naturalist who realised that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors. He proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection. He published his theory with compelling evidence for evolution in his 1859 book “On the origin of Species”.

The popular perception of Charles Darwin and his work is that, the present day human has descended from the ape. This concept may appear scientifically acceptable today but was wholly rejected by the Christian world of the early nineteenth century. As per the Christian ideology of those days, the origin of the human race could only start with Adam and Eve and therefore the evolutionary theory was rejected. The Archbishop was one of his sternest critics and had sarcastically wanted know which of his grandparent was a monkey. One of Darwin's disciples had retorted by saying that Darwin certainly did not descend from a pope!

Darwin's understanding of the evolution of the different life forms came during his five years of sea voyage on the H.M.S.Beagle between Dec. 1831 - Oct. 1836. Crossing the Atlantic Ocean Beagle arrived at St. Helena Island from South Africa and then went on to South America.

It was in Santiago in Cape Verde Island that Darwin made his first curious discovery. He found a horizontal white band of shells within a cliff face along the shoreline of Porto Praya. The fact that this layer was forty-five feet above sea level raised some interesting questions for Darwin.

The arrangement of the shell layer appeared to support Lyell's theory of a world slowly changing over great periods of time, a novel concept in Darwin's day. This observation, and many others like it, would later lead Darwin to develop his own theory of rising continents and sinking ocean floors.

Darwin's theory of evolution and the survival of the fittest brought to fore the concept of change and the mechanism of change. From a metaphysical outlook, Darwin took the first step towards the dialectical materialistic world view which was later enormously developed by Karl Marx and Engel. Darwin died on 19th April 1882.

Left Alignment: Budget 2010

2010-03-20T17:29:00.000-07:00

Pravin Mishra

Boribundhs or Choribundh? Development or Fraud?

2010-03-20T17:26:00.000-07:00

Compiled from RTI data collected by Bharat Jhala

Disasters have become opportunistic events for the government to undertake much needed development work. The State Government was aware that due to the disasters and man-made floods from 2005 to 2008, there was a change in the course of rivers in 23 zillas. As a result, lakhs of farmers' fields were washed away rendering them unfit for cultivation.

If the Government had undertaken long term measures such as increasing the depths of the rivers, pitching both the river banks and constructing check dams at every kilometer, perhaps the past disasters could have been avoided and the future safeguarded. But instead, the Government suddenly decided to construct boribundhs, claiming that the water could be prevented from flooding the villages or the fields by such “boribundhs”! However, the boribundh is not a permanent structure and they have been built without any planning for disasters or stopping the runoff of rain water!

On 13th January, 2010, Bharatsinh Jhala submitted a RTI to the Chief Minister's Office requesting amongst others the following information:

1.The general regulation released by the State government on constructing boribundhs in the villages of Gujarat and the names of the ministers responsible for taking the decision for the same.

2.The details of the villages, taluka and zillas where the boribundhs were constructed and the costs incurred.

The following reply was received:

1. On 17th August 2009, Mr. Narendra Modi made an announcement to commence the construction of the boribundhs, through a video conference from Sachivalaya, Gandhinagar.

2. Boribundhs had been constructed at a cost ranging from Rs. 7 lakhs to Rs. 23 lakhs. But since there were no rains during the next month, there has been no collection or containment of water.

3. All the costs have been incurred utilising the funds from the Central Government's National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).

As per the NREGS policy, the villagers have to take decisions on such kind of development work in a Gramsabha, which the Gram Panchayat then implements but none of the villages had passed a prior resolution regarding the same. Thus crores of NREGS funds were wasted away without any long-term benefit to the villagers only to fuel the Chief Minister's propaganda of development.

Reader's Article - BT Brinjal Bartha: The Gender Dimension

2010-03-20T17:22:00.000-07:00

Meera Velayudhan

Brinjal entered the Indian food chain four thousand years ago, India being the home to its 2500 varieties. Brinjal is the second highest consumed vegetable in the country after potato and is cultivated over 5.50 lakh hectares, providing livelihood to over 15 lakh farmers and 50 lakh vendors, mainly women. With the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee giving its sanction to BT Brinjal, the way is being paved for GM food crops as staple diet of the people, thereby threatening India's food sovereignty.

What is food sovereignty? According to the World Food Summit+5 in 2002, food sovereignty is about the rights of the people, communities, and nations to decide their own agricultural, labor, land, fishing, food policies. It goes beyond a food security agenda since it addresses the rights of the people not only in accessing food but also in determining how to use their own natural resources to ensure sustainable food security. Where do women's rights figure in the issue of food security and why? The large majority of poor women in south asia in particular play a key role in agriculture, the main source of livelihood. Women form 40% of agricultural workforce, with this percentage rising. To date, 53% of all male workers, 75% of all female workers and 85% of all rural female workers are in agriculture.

Crop diversity is therefore a gendered domain. It highlights the following:

(a) women's roles in agriculture for which they have specific skills and use different practices- processing, selection, storage, preservation of food grains. They have ethno botanical knowledge and skills.

(b) women's choices of crops point to the multiple roles they perform- as farmers, household cooking, keepers of cooking traditions, seed keepers, medicinal plant and health care givers.

(c) Women have the most stakes in crop diversity as they see its link with food security for their households. “We mix and sow” -is an often heard statement.
The introduction of new crop-cash crop- varieties lead to changes in roles and practices that have a specific and adverse impact on rural women. What is at stake here is control and power. Rural women are most vulnerable since they are denied, within their households and outside, ownership and control of resources, such as land, limiting their opportunities to have a say in changes in cropping practices, the modes of crop use, etc. So, maintaining biodiversity is linked with a range of women's rights including the rights of women from marginalized communities.

In the past few decades, the reproduction of seeds has moved out of the hands of farmers, women in particular, into the spheres of formal science, experimental plots of institutes, gene banks, commercial seed suppliers, bureaucratic procedures of seed certification. Women's seed and biodiversity knowledge is not recognized, documented or integrated into agricultural research. Efforts need to be made to ensure that such knowledge of women remains in the public domain and is backed up by a strong intellectual property rights regime that protects their rights and prevents monopolistic trade practices so that there concerted efforts to ward off the threats posed by commercial seeds in the name of technological control, economic efficiency, rational management.

THE REPUBLIC ON SALE

2010-02-19T11:07:00.001-08:00

Mukul Sinha

As 26th January approaches each year, we find little children in tattered clothes scurrying across the traffic signals to sell their tricolor merchandise to the occupants of the whizzing cars that stop at the red signals. The approaching “Republic Day” gives them some hope to sell their stock of plastic flags for perhaps a better meal!

While the poor to survive have to sell the symbol of our republic, the rich are selling the republic itself. The choice of who would be the Chief Guest of the Republic day celebration is also decided not on the stature of our guest but on financial consideration. This year, the President of South Korea Mr. Lee Myung Bak was invited to preside over the Republic day parade, guess for what reasons? Because the South Koreans are investing the highest amount to establish the gigantic POSCO!

POSCO, is the world's fourth largest steel producer and one of the most competitive steel companies in the world. POSCO-India's proposed investment is the highest ever Foreign Direct Investment in India. The company has ambitious expansion plans in India, hoping to invest some $19 billion in the country. Five years ago Posco unveiled plans to build India's largest steel mill in the State of Orissa on the Bay of Bengal.

Because of local opposition, though, the project has suffered extensive delays and Posco hasn't even secured a 4,000-acre property promised for the steel plant. For more than four years the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samity (PPSS) has been bravely resisting attempts to displace over 30,000 people in Jagatsinghpur District of Orissa by POSCO, which wants to set up a steel company and a port on their lands. The Korean steelmaker is hoping the visit to New Delhi by South Korean President Lee Myung Bak will clear the way for its $19 billion in proposed investments in India.

The republic which was meant to be of the people by the people and for the people to empower the common man has now become the podium for auction to the highest bidder. May be in the next republic day we find the displaced children of Jagatsinghpur of Orissa selling their tricolor flags in your city with the small prints behind the flags “made in South Korea”!

NSM remembers Gandhi on 30th January his death anniversary

2010-02-19T11:05:00.001-08:00

When Godse pumped bullets in the frail body of Gandhiji on 30th Jan 1948, he really killed the greatest leader that the indigenous capitalism had ever produced. The prominence of his image as a man of peace and non-violence has really covered up his real historical role as the mass organiser. On this day we try to recall some of his strategies of mass movement that shook the British Empire.

The picture of Gandhiji which is perhaps well-known is one where he is spinning yarn with traditional 'charkha.' That charkha was the symbol that countered the great spinning mills of Britain that heralded the industrial revolution of Europe. The traditional charkha thus became the focus of unity of nascent Indian bourgeois. Having created the most powerful symbol of struggle, Gandhiji's call for boycotting foreign clothes and goods was a natural consequence of resistance of nascent national capitalism to imperialistic market domination. The masses of people coming out in the streets to burn foreign clothes became the powerful tool of resistance to imperialism. It would be incomplete if we do not remember the famous Dandi-March in this connection. He had defied the authority of British Empire on one hand and highlighted the indigenous production on other hand.

In the era of globalization the present Indian big bourgeois would however like us to remember Gandhiji not as the agitational leader that took on the British imperialism but as a harmless icon of peace and non-violence.

EDITORIAL: Post-Copenhagen Conference, The Farce Continues on Climate Change

2010-02-19T11:02:00.000-08:00

Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is now deeply red-faced by the exposures of its lies about its profound claims on the 'disappearance' of Himalayan Glaciers and occurrence of extreme weather conditions related to global warming. IPCC has now admitted that these are not based on any scientific evidence. The Copenhagen meet, as expected, achieved nothing to protect our planet instead caused huge spending of natural resources.

The IPCC has never addressed the real issue of the lavish life-styles of the rich people and the rich nations as reflected by their per-capita CO2 emissions. The IPCC, dictated by USA, refuses to accept per-capita CO2 emission as the yardstick and continues to use per-country CO2 emission instead, which shifts the blame to China and India, who emit substantial amount of CO2 simply because of their large populations. Thus India and China are squarely blamed for their large populations. This however is not true.

NSM has computed the climate-normalized per-capita CO2 emission ratios of various countries vis-à-vis India (using average annual mean temperature). The figures are quite revealing: Australia is the worst offender (the ratio is 11.1) followed by Saudi Arabia (7.8), USA (6.7), Canada (3.8), and Japan (3.5). European Union has modest ratio of 2.6 followed by Russia (2.5), Brazil (1.2), China (1.2) and India (1.0).

Per-capita release of CO2 of USA is 6.7/2.6 = 2.6 times that of European Union (by our method)! Question is why should the IPCC not take cognizance of this fact and demand that USA's per-capita CO2 emission be reduced to match that of EU at least? (This means reduction in emission of 3.7 Billion tons of CO2 per year alone from USA). Much of the problem will be taken care of even at the current rate of emission of CO2. But since the expense of IPCC and other UN bodies is mainly borne by the USA how can they take such a correct stand? As the saying goes do not bite the hand that feeds.

The greatest pity is that the Minister for environment, Jairam Ramesh himself rejects the per-capita yardstick and supports the per-country cap that will only help the rich nations. We want to ask Mr. Jairam Ramesh, the IPCC and others, two questions: (1) is the food intake for proper diet is based on per-capita or per-country basis? If it is by per country, then average Indian will eat only once per day compared to three times of EU and 6 times that of USA. (2) Is the CO2 emitted by breathing human beings based on per-capita or per-country basis? If it is by per-country basis, then every two Indians out of three have to be choked to death to fulfill the wishes of the IPCC, USA and other rich nations.

NSM states that climate-normalized per-capita CO2 emission can be the only basis for computation of emission norms. This value for the European Union should be taken as standard (with a prescribed capping factor); this will cap that of USA and other wasteful countries while allowing India, China etc to improve the living standard of their citizens. Of course, new technologies must be developed and used to improve the efficiency of use of energy and material in all aspects of our life, which will reduce the emission.

LEFT ALIGNMENT

2010-02-19T11:01:00.000-08:00

Pravin Mishra

Hero of “dev” becomes brand ambassador

2010-02-19T10:59:00.000-08:00

Nirjhari Sinha

It is a common belief in India that the tourism in Gujarat has not taken off primarily because of the prohibition policy of the Gujarat. Amitabh Bachchan on Monday accepted the Gujarat government's offer to be the new “brand ambassador” for the State to promote “tourism”; Does he have plans to bring in his famed “Madhushalas” in Gujarat?? Ironically, the greatest ambassador of Gujarat, Mahatma Gandhi would have swooned at the idea of “madhushala” being promoted to develop Gujarat!

In his letter of acceptance to Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Mr. Bachchan said: “You have very graciously considered my appointment as brand ambassador for Gujarat. I accept the offer with great humility. I hope we will be able to work together for the betterment of Gujarat.” While it is always welcome for any person to come and work for the benefit of the State, in the instant case, it started with the tax exemption for his film “Paa”. It is also heard that Amitabh Bachchan has plans to establish a major Film establishment for which he is looking for land in Gujarat. The development is thus not one sided but involves a quid pro quo.

From being a close friend of Rajiv Gandhi, being bailed out by Amar Singh during the ABCL debt-crisis to being a ambassador of Narendra Modi's Government are really very contradictory relations. One may say totally different roles. But then isn't he the greatest actor of all? In Govind Nihalani's film “Dev” he with great élan had played the role of the Police Officer who gave up his life to give justice to a Muslim boy as a sequel to the 2002 Gujarat riots. We may also recall his famous dialogue from that movie when the Chief Minister tells him that the ratio of the deaths of Hindus and Muslims in police firing was not fair. Would Shri Bachchan remember that memorable role of his and also remember that there cannot be any genuine development without peace and justice?

'ALVIDA' TO JYOTIBABU

2010-02-19T10:58:00.001-08:00

Mukul Sinha

Jyotibabu is a perfect study of contradictions; a leader who rose during the Great Debate that shunned the “bourgeois parliamentary road to socialism” but will be forever remembered as the longest surviving communist Chief Minister of the bourgeoisie assembly! His elite upbringing in an affluent Bengali family, legal education in London and Marxist indoctrination during the pre-second world period, made him into the Jyotibabu as we knew him, a communist aristocrat. A distant taciturn leader who managed his party, Government and the people like a patriarch. But his ascent to the leadership was rather radical.

The primary differences between the Communist Party of Soviet Union (CPSU) and the Communist Party of China (CPC) in the early 1960s were (1) whether socialism could be built in one country, (2) whether the socialist system and capitalist system could coexist and (3) whether the communist parties could use the bourgeois parliamentary system to achieve socialism. All these three issues arose from the CPSU thesis that the “class struggle” had largely come to an end after the establishment of the Soviet Union!

The debate over these issues that came to be known as the “Great debate”, had split the communist parties world over. The undivided Communist party of India (CPI) had also split in 1964 into the CPI and CPI (M). CPI (M) led by Namboodripad and Jyotibabu opposed the CPSU line of parliamentary road to socialism.

At a CPI National Council meeting held on April 11, 1964, Jyotibabu sided with the radical Council members who walked out in protest, accusing Dange and his followers of "anti-unity and anti-Communist policies". They later on organised a convention in Tenali, Andhra Pradesh July 7 to 11. A large portrait of the Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong at the Tenali convention indicated the tilt of the radical faction.

In 1967 a peasant uprising broke out in Naxalbari, in northern West Bengal. The insurgency was led by hardliner district-level CPI (M) leaders Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal. The hardliners within CPI (M) saw the Naxalbari uprising as the spark that would ignite the Indian revolution. “Spring Thunder over India” was published as an editorial in People's Daily, organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on 5 July 1967, hailing the Naxalbari movement. The Naxalbari movement was however violently repressed by the West Bengal government of which CPI(M) was a major partner, causing an abrupt break in CPI(M)-CPC relations. Jyotibabu was the home minister of that Government!

Thus ended the radicalism of Jyotibabu and for the next one decade {1967 to 1977}, he retraced his steps back to the CPI position of parliamentary road. In 1977 he became the Chief Minister of West Bengal as the leader of CPI (M), a position he held till his retirement in 2000. From the era of “Great debate” to being the longest surviving communist Chief Minister of a bourgeois assembly, is indeed a long march. We cannot give you a parting red salute Jyotibabu but we do say alvida!

Struggle of brick-kiln workers under the banner of Int-Bhatta Union affiliated to GFTU

2010-02-19T10:54:00.000-08:00

Ramesh Srivastava

Those sitting in high-rise buildings of Gujarat can't even imagine about the plight of workers who have made the bricks for those buildings. Most of the workers working in Int-bhattha (brick-kilns) come from other states like Rajasthan, UP, Chhattisghath etc. They are covered by inter state migrant workers act but the irony is that not a single owner of the brick-kilns comply with the provisions of the act. As a result all the workers are deprived of all the benefits entitled under the said act. Government is not bothered about these workers and has never taken any action against the brick-kiln owners for contravening the law.

In support of their seventeen demands thousands of workers went on strike from 14 to 25 January 2010. The strike was total. On 15th January a mass meeting was held at Adalaj. Owners of Bhattha tried to stop the meeting with the help of local police but workers showed their strength and solidarity and turned up in meeting in big number. Workers held another major rally cum Dharna at income-tax circle on 19th January and submitted their demands to labour authority.

On 25 January after twelve days strike when management did not respond workers held a meeting at Prabha Hanuman Mandir, Adalaj decided to go back to their native place as they had no means of survival.

However brick manufactures did not allow them to return home as they were demanding advance money they had given to workers at the time of joining.
Brick-kiln workers Union moved to Gujarat High court through its advocate Mukul Sinha. It was argued that since they have no money to return to owners they are being subjected to bonded labour. Workers had also appraised Gandhinagar SP and other official about their condition but no action had been taken.

Taking a strong note of the plight of the brick kiln workers Justice Akil Kureshi Of Gujarat High court has directed SP and collector to visit brick-Kiln units in Gandhinagar district and submit a report about labourers' condition.

The court also asked officials to take steps if necessary for release of brick kiln workers who are subjected to working conditions similar to bonded labourers by brick-manufacturers .The matter has been posted for further hearing on February sixteen
But this wont be the end of struggle. The workers and their organizations are determined to carry through the struggle to achieve their goal of higher wages and better facilities.

HIGH COURT QUESTIONS SO CALLED 'DEPORTATION' OF ALLEGED 'BANGLADESHIS'

2010-02-19T10:52:00.000-08:00

S.H. Iyer

A division bench of the Gujarat High Court comprising Chief Justice Mr. S.J. Mukhopadhaya and Mr. Justice Anant S. Dave, after preliminary hearing of a Public Interest Litigation filed by Shri Rajesh P. Mankad of Jan Sangharsh Manch challenging illegal arrest, detention and deportation of the hutment dwellers near Chandola lake of Ahmedabad city by the Special Operation Group (SOG) of Crime Branch on the ground of their being `Bangladeshi' nationals, directed the Government to file detailed affidavit on or before 8-2-2010. Division bench also framed the following the questions (1) When and why did the police arrest and detain the persons in question (2) Whether the Sessions Court or any other competent authority has passed any order of remand against the persons in question? (3) Whether the persons deported have been declared as Foreign Nationals by the competent tribunal under the Foreigners Act?

The petitioner Jan Sangharsh Manch had stated in their petition that on 23-4-2009 the SOG had arrested and detained several persons including men, women and children who were residing in hutments near Chandola lake of Ahmedabad city on the ground that they were citizens of Bangladesh . Out of 75 persons arrested, 27 were `deported' to Bangladesh on 25-11-2009 and 20 were `deported' on 10-1-2010. It was contended by the petitioner that all the persons arrested, detained and deported to Bangladesh are the citizens of India and that the police have handed over Indian citizens to a foreign country without any authority and sanction of law and without following the procedure prescribed by the Foreigners Act and therefore, the action on the part of the police was violative of Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Further hearing of the case is fixed on 8-2-2010.

1991-2010: Two Decades of Globalised Decay

2010-01-18T15:52:00.000-08:00

Mukul Sinha

We are about to complete the first decade of the 21st Century. If we add to this the last decade of the 20th century, we now have two decades of decay under the “glorious” capitalist globalization. After 20 years of globalization, people have started realizing the bankruptcy of the capitalist mode of production and the degeneracy of its socio-political system. The rot has gone to the roots. The citadel itself is crumbling and America finds itself entangled in one of its worst economic crises. Will it ever come out of this mess or will be the end of the road? That will perhaps be the story of the next decade!

The beginning the last decade of the 20th Century started with the two most important events that have influenced global politics. On January 16, 1991, American forces started the air attack against Iraq leaving 200,000 Iraqis dead. The second event was the fall of the Soviet Union. Yeltsin, president of the Russian republic, lead a coup against Gorbachev in August 1991 to grab power that led to the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

Thus started the present phase of globalization.. With all its aberrations and distortions, the Soviet Union alone stood in the path of the Western Capitalist mode of production and the “free market” having a different ideal if not a true socialist system. Globalization bulldozed all that under the hypocritical slogan of freedom and democracy. The resistance however came from the Islamic militants who on February 26, 1993, tried to destroy the World Trade Center, killing five people and trapping tens of thousands of office workers in the tower.

George W. Bush was sworn in as the 43rd president of America on Jan. 20, 2001. This was hardly a good omen for heralding the 21st century! The top item on Bush's domestic agenda was a $1.6 trillion tax cut. By the time Americans began receiving their tax rebate checks in August, the country's budget surplus had indeed withered. On September 11, 2001 terrorist attack that destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Centre at New York killing several thousand people. U.S. and British forces attacked the Taliban in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001 which collapsed after two months of bombing. “War against terrorism” thereafter became a convenient slogan to hit at all those who opposed capitalist globalization and the total destruction of Iraq followed, leading to the death of Saddam Hussein.

The last five years of George W Bush was of course terrible. He presided over the collapse of the American economy which exploded with the sub-prime loan disaster in 2006/07. Dozens of major Banks and financial Institutions went bankrupt and the American economy is kept alive by pumping tax payers' money into the corporate sector.

Alongwith the receding economy, the political and moral standards of societies all across the globe have also crumbled. Three of the most heinous genocides have also been carried out in this period. The "ethnic cleansing" in Croatia left 25,000 dead till January 1992, when a UN supervised ceasefire took place. In 1994, over 800,000 innocent Tutsis were hacked to death by Hutu extremists in the Rwanda genocide. Closer at home, over a thousand innocent Muslims were butchered in Gujarat in 2002. Two countries, Afghanistan and Iraq have virtually been destroyed. Globalization has indeed globalised violence and degradation all across the globe!

Editorial

2010-01-18T15:49:00.000-08:00

Old wine in young bottle: The new President of BJP with old habits

The first major decision that Nitin Gadkari took as the President of BJP on the last days of 2009 was to support Sibu Soren as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand! A momentous decision for a man like Gadkari who just a few days back in his first press conference ostentatiously declared that he did not touch the feet of any person whom he did not respect! Sibu Soren must be a very respectable man for Gadkari and his party to be their unanimous choice as the Chief Minister despite his highly corrupt background! So what is the difference between the “old Rajnath” and the “young Gadkari”? It is Old wine in young bottle? So far as the RSS control over BJP is concerned, Gadkari apparently is the nominee of RSS. Nothing can therefore be expected to change in the ideological level. At the political level, the first act of Gadkari in supporting the minority group of Soren having only 18 MLAs is clearly as opportunistic as his predecessors or else how could the BJP with only 20 elected MLAs get into the ministry in a house which has 81 MLAs?

Welcome 2010

The first decade of the 21st century has very few happy moments to remember. In Gujarat we had started 2001 with the worst earthquake of the country followed by the most shameful genocide of 2002. The last few years witnessed the unusual spectacle of a crumbling American economy having been earlier hit by the deadly airplane attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Centre.

We of course have our struggle to celebrate. The last seven years have been testing times for all of us in Jan Sangharsh Manch and the New Socialist Movement. With heavy odds against us, we have firmly stood our ground to uphold secular democracy and during this time even register the New Socialist Movement as a political party. To advance the cause of the working people and guide the movement, we now have our newspaper, “Elaan”. So while we take lessons from the unhappy past, let us look forward to an eventful 2010. From all us at “Elaan” and New Socialist Movement, we wish our readers a very “Happy New Year”!

Left Alignment

2010-01-18T15:46:00.000-08:00

Living in Hell: Struggle for Survival

2010-01-18T15:40:00.000-08:00

Those who labor to build cities are destined to be excluded from the cities they built. This has been the history of the slum dwellers all over the world. Consigned to the fringes of the city, they make their jhuggi-jhopdis and live in the filth and dirt of the “effluent zones” of the cities. The residents of the “affluent zones” hate the sight of these miserable “encroachers” but have to tolerate their existence as they are still useful for maintaining the city as casuals and domestic workers. But as the city expands, the bull-dozers push them out farther just as garbage is removed. The story of the mega-city Ahmedabad is no different and thousands of slum dwellers have lost their shanties in the last few years to the bull-dozers.

For over two decades, Jansangharsh Manch has mobilized such slum dwellers to help them in their struggle for survival and scores of rallies and meetings have been held during this time to demand a proper housing policy for the marginalized sections. The struggle to save the 242 residence of Salatnagar has perhaps assumed epic proportions since this cluster of slums despite being demolished once by the Corporation and burnt down in the 2002 riots, stills survives.

On 19th December, a large meeting was held in Piplaj, the “new Andaman” for the slum dwellers of Ahmedabad. Whenever a slum is demolished, as an “alternative” accommodation, the slum dwellers are given a small plot of land in Piplaj, which till recently was a desolate, remote area in the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Though two years have passed after the establishment of this new cluster that houses the residents of Mahakali, Banas and other slums which were demolished, there are still no civic amenities like water, streets and gutters. The meeting resolved to fight for the JNURM facilities and a better future.

Earlier, on 4th December, a similar meeting was held in the Motera area by the residents of Valijibhai-ni-kuan to voice the same demand for improving the civic amenities like gutter, streets, drinking water and lights.

Encounter with CBI: Apex Court transfers Sohrabuddin case to the CBI

2010-01-18T15:19:00.000-08:00

Mukul Sinha

IGP D.G.Vanzara who was the de-facto Police Chief of the Gujarat State due to his proximity with the Chief Minister Narendra Modi could have never imagined that he would also be facing an encounter with the CBI. First, as the Chief of the Crime Branch, Ahmedabad and later as the Chief of the Anti-Terrorist Squad, he built up the dreaded team of encounter specialists. He and his team carried out seven “successful” encounters killing around 15 “dreaded terrorists” between 2002 and 2006. In one such encounter Sohrabuddin Sheikh was shot and killed on 26th November, 2005. His wife Kauserbi was injected with Pentothal and apparently burnt to death in the village of Vanzara. Her body was never found.

A letter from Rubabuddin, the brother of Sohrabuddin to the Chief Justice of India led to a preliminary enquiry by the CID and later to the filing of the writ petition before the Apex Court. The enquiry revealed that Sohrabuddin, Kauserbi and another person were kidnapped from a bus by the Gujarat Police when these persons were traveling from Hyderabad to Sangli. The third person, who was later identified as Tulsi Prajapati was also killed in another encounter by the same team in December, 2006 near Ambaji.

After notice was issued by Supreme Court, the investigation was handed over to DIG Rajnish Rai who did the unbelievable; he arrested D.G.Vanzara in April 2007 alongwith two other IPS officeres, namely Shri Dinesh M.N. from Rajasthan and Rajkumar Pandyan from Gujarat cadre. The arrests of the top Police officer close to the powers shook the foundations at Gandhinagar and Rajnish Rai was removed and the investigation was transferred to IGP Gita Johri. Ultimately, on 12th of January, 2010, the Apex Court passed its final Judgment and Order, directing the investigation to be handed over to CBI.

In most of these “encounters” Policemen from more than one State are involved. In the Sohrabuddin case, the Rajasthan Police, Gujarat Police, Maharashtra Police and the Andhra Police are involved. Tulsi, who was an accused in another criminal case registered in Gujarat was reportedly brought to Ahmedabad under the guise of producing him before the Ahmedabad Court and while taking him back to Rajasthan where he was lodged in the Udaipur jail, he was apparently shot and killed. At that time Dinesh M.N. IPS was the SP of Udaipur (now under arrest for killing Sohrabuddin) and the two Policemen who accompanied Tulsi to Ahmedabad were working under him and specially assigned to travel with Tulsi! In such inter-state conspiracy, the CBI alone can be efficacious. It will also help in finding out the political bosses who were pulling the strings from behind to create the bogey of “Islamic terrorism”.

From Faith to Struggle: Struggle of the poojaris and employees of Jain temples

2010-01-18T15:16:00.000-08:00

Bharat Bhatt

In 1989 a union was formed by poojaris and other employees of the major Jain temples of India managed by the Sheth Kalyanji-Anandji religious trust. The major establishment is in the temple town of Palitana. This trust has branches in four states and is one of the richest religious trusts. Ironically however, the workers were denied even minimum wages in the place of worship. Initially the union was affiliated to INTUC but felt betrayed. Thereafter the union joined GFTU and thus started a historical struggle.

In 1989 the poojaris and the employees went on strike in all the branches of trust. During the strike even the poojaris (priests) refused to conduct Puja (worship). It was a total strike for five days which shook the trust and the trustees were forced to pay minimum wages to all the workers. But the struggle continued and in the last two decades, a total of six settlements were signed and many contract workers were made permanent. The most important achievement is that they now get the same pay scales and dearness allowances as decided by the central pay commission from time to time.

The members of the union also participated in the struggle for democratic rights led by NSM and Jan Sangharsh Manch for housing rights and economic rights for other deprived sections of society. During the struggle in the last two decades, the employees learnt that divisive politics in the name of religion, region and caste are against workers unity and must be opposed. United we stand and divided we fall.

Shrinking Democracy: A Seminar Organised by Jan Sangarsh Manch

2010-01-18T15:11:00.000-08:00

S.H. Iyer

Contrary to the claims made by the protagonists of the new economic order under Globalisation, democratic space has indeed shrunk. In a day long seminar on `Shrinking Democracy’ that was held at Vasudev Tripathi Hall, Shahpur, Ahmedabad on 20-12-2009 a large number of social activists, trade union leaders, industrial workers, and slum dwellers met to discuss the issue. Welcoming the participants, Dr. Mukul Sinha, Chairman of the New Socialist Movement introduced the subject and said that in the present era of globalization the voice of the common man was being throttled and democratic space was shrinking in all the spheres, be it the judiciary, legislature or executive.

Speaking on the occasion, former Chief Minister Shri Suresh Mehta was very critical about the functioning of the Gujarat Government in conducting the legislative and other businesses. He lamented that whatever little space the MLAs had in the existing democracy was also vanishing. He indicated that the assembly met only once in six months for two days. One day was reserved for condolence and obituary. The second day was reserved for shoutings and walkouts! MLAs have no say in the governance now. MLAs, media, and voters are all managed.

Speaking on the manner in which the democratic procedures to unravel corruption was being sabotaged, Shri Mehta spoke about a scam in the SUJALAM-SUFALAM SCHEME. While scrutinizing the accounts of a particular department in the above scheme, the CAG had noticed certain discrepancies and sought an explanation from the government, The government first initiated an inquiry through an IAS Officer, which, prima-facie, found that there were irregularities. However, for carrying out further enquiries, the government appointed another Committee which also came to same conclusion. Till date neither the report of the CAG nor the enquiry report has been tabled in the assembly! He also pointed out that in vibrant Gujarat, within a short span of three years, the number of people below poverty line has from risen from 78,000 to two lacs.

Coming down heavily on the demolition of hutments in big cities and urban areas, Shri Mahesh Bhatt said that though the right to shelter has been recognized as a fundamental right, it has still remained a dream for urban poor. The very object of enacting the Urban Land Ceiling Act was for the equitable distribution of surplus land so as to provide residential accommodation to the urban poor. Now this piece of welfare legislation has been repealed to make way for shopping malls. Moreover, section 40-J of the Town Planning Act provides for mandatory reservation of 10% land for housing the urban poor. However, the real question still remains – What has happened to the 10% land reserved for housing the urban poor?

Shri Amrish Patel, the General Secretary of GFTU, spoke against the creation of Special Economic Zones and the denial of labor laws within SEZs. Dr. Mukul Sinha spoke about the exploitation of tribals by of the corporate houses in connivance with the government who grab their land and other resources like minerals below their land. He said that the entire issue of “fighting” the Maoists was related to suppression of the tribal resistance. A common view emerging from the day long seminar was that the judiciary had failed to uphold its historical task of being the watchdog of democratic values and it was left to the people to rise for protecting their democratic rights.

The Indo-American Chopsuey

2009-12-22T14:27:00.000-08:00

Mukul Sinha

What did Obama serve Manmohan Singh when he invited him for the great American dinner on 24th November?? American Chopsuey? Nobody knows why it is called American Chopsuey, but it is one of the most common recipes in the Chinese restaurants. It is basically a stir fry vegetables sautéed in sauce served over crispy noodles. And where did Obama learn to make American Chopsuey? From the Chinese of course, when he had visited them in early November.

That perhaps is the story of all products in the world today. Call it whatever you may; turn it around and you will always see the small print, 'Made in China.' Nay, it is not just limited to material products alone. In almost every field of human activity, the Chinese dominate including the field of sports as they have recently demonstrated in the Beijing Olympics. Yet China has to play second fiddle to America.

If we for the time being restrict our attention to the rise of three nations, we will notice they have a common period of sprouting. America, China and India changed qualitatively in the post second world war as compared to its health prior to the Second World War. America jumped into the seat of the most powerful and wealthy nation whereas China and India attained its political independence, albeit in different ways.

Led by Mao, the Chinese peasantry smashed the semi-feudal, semi colonial social structure that made China pregnant with not a socialist revolution but an aggressive capitalist mode of production. Deng Ziao Peng rightly diagnosed the nature of the embryo in 1976 and in the next one decade had delivered the fastest growing capitalist child that started running before it crawled.

India on the other hand, led by Jawaharlal Nehru, opted for the capitalist path using the public sector as the foundation and an apologetically slow land reform. Despite socialist slogans, the real intention was never to empower the people and thus after six decades of Independence , 40% of the population still languishes below the poverty line. The Globalization of nineties and thereafter has ofcourse benefited the monopoly capitalists of India who hope to gain by their close collaboration with America.

The relation between America, China and India is becoming more akin to the monkey and the two cats which were fighting over a loaf of bread. The monkey, pretending to deliver equal justice, eats away bits of the bread of both the cats but the antagonism between the cats blinds them to the treachery of the monkey. That is where Deng Ziao was wrong when he had said that, “ it does not matter whether a cat is black or white as long as it can catch the mice” . Deng was commenting against the Mao's line that the worker must learn socialist politics as much as he learns productive skills. For Deng, politics did not matter, as long as the workers gave production- the standard capitalist mantra. But Deng was wrong. The color of the cat matters. The capitalist cats can only fight and allow to be fooled by the monkey; exactly what China and India is doing in the present time. As nations, China and India should unite and cook their own Chopsuey.

Editorial

2009-12-22T14:24:00.000-08:00

The Dividing Lines

Jana Gana Mana Adhinayak Jaya Hey
Bharat Bhagya Vidhata
Punjab Sindh Gujarat Maratha
Dravid Utkal Banga…

When Rabindranath Tagore wrote the national anthem, he was obviously dreaming about a vast united India, the India where people are not divided on the basis of narrow domestic walls. But people like Raj Thackeray and Bal Thackeray however want to revise and rewrite the national anthem altogether. Despite immense differences and diversities, India has emerged as an integrated nation-state and has survived several divisive forces; But can it now overcome the present divisive politics?

Sachin Tendulkar is not just another sports man playing in some obscure corner of the country. His domination in the field of cricket has not only made him a national icon but he may be the best in the world. Sachin has thus become the pride of every Indian and a common pride is always a powerful cementing force. Sachin was only voicing this sentiment when he declared that he was an “Indian” first and then a “Maharashtrian”. What Bal Thackeray has achieved by castigating Sachin is to destroy this very foundation of national integration. To reduce the stature of Sachin to a “Marathi Manoosh” is to shrink India to the size of Maharashtra.

Doob Doob Dubai

Dubai is known as the land of the real estate. Unlike the other six emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dubai does not have any oil reserves and its economy flourished primarily on construction and financial investments to emerge as an international city. A city that can outsmart any of the western cities with its tall buildings, malls and seven star hotels. Out of the population of 17 lakhs, 2.5 lakhs are construction workers from outside.

With finance capital pouring in from all across the world, the barren piece of land became the pride of the Arab world but with the recession setting in, the party seems to be over. The huge constructed spaces now do not have any takers and Dubai has run up a staggering debt of over 80 billion dollars. The Dubai World, a state controlled business group alone accounts for 60 billion dollars.

The ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has however remained as reckless as he used to be. He has shifted the burden of the crisis on the shoulders of lakhs of workers, engineers and architects by rendering them jobless and sit tight hoping that the neo-rich of China , India and of course the other emirates bail him out of is not so real state!

The American Unemployment Exchange

2009-12-22T14:22:00.000-08:00

Sriram

America has always boasted about a superior production system and claimed to be the work house of the world. But when the September results of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics came out, it showed that unemployment for the month was 10%. This was higher in 2009 than in 2008. For any economic crisis to be classified as a depression, like what happened in the US in the 1920s, the unemployment rate has to be around 20%. At the rate that unemployment rate has been rising, America appears to be heading towards one.

With finance capital given a free, de-regulated hand in the present era, crises in capitalism are emerging with greater frequency. One of the reasons for the periodic rise in unemployment in the US is because of footloose capital that shifted to low-wage production regions like Mexico and China in the cold pursuit of profit. With each crisis come the need to understand what the working-class needs to do in order to usher in more progressive change and ensure job-security.

This holds a lesson for a country like India, which still has the bulk of the market for its production within the domestic base and need not allow itself to be subjected to the fleeting nature of monopoly capital. Any industrialization process aimed at stable and long-term economic growth needs to be tied in strongly to the domestic market and a steady controllable resource base which would protect the gains of that industrialization.

How does this relate to the working-class in India? It is imperative that, in order to hold on to secure and viable work, unions across the country demand that economic production and growth not be subject to whims of monopoly capital. Apart from agitation and collective-bargaining at the site of production, it is imperative for trade unions to fight to secure production and therefore secure workers rights. This can happen if there is a broad-based coalition across unions to ensure that the economic growth of the country is not at the mercy of marauding footloose capital.

This has been exemplified by some of the struggles led by the GFTU including the most recent one against the privatization of public utility institutions like the AMTS, as well as larger federations like TUCI, which has been agitating against the hijacking of the economic integrity of India by imperialist capital. It is imperative that like-minded unions join forces in these large struggles in conjuncture with the local struggles at the factory-floor.

The Invisible Conflict

2009-12-22T14:18:00.001-08:00

Mukul Sinha

As the paints spread across the canvas, they chart out not just visible outlines but imprint the ideas of the artist. The dialectical development of ideas finds its place on the canvas as contradictions of different hues and Pravin Mishra's abstract paintings were no exception. What set apart Pravin's work from others were the uninhibited strokes that boldly told the story of his inner mind. While most of the paintings displayed by Pravin in the Hutheesing Visual Art Centre in Ahmedabad in November were remarkable, one painting was indeed outstanding, the hands that unitedly pulled the rope from one side while the other side was invisible. That precisely is the story of all development, the story of invisible unity and the struggle.

Bharat Zala and Vinod Pandya win NDTV RTI Award

2009-12-22T14:15:00.000-08:00

There was a time when apart from the Upper castes, no other person had the right to know. In case the dalit or the lower caste ever dared to learn, they were severely punished. The Manusmriti prescribed the punishment of pouring molten lead into the ear of a dalit who heard the Gita! From those black days of our society, we have atleast come to the new horizon of knowledge. The Right of Information Act does, to some extent, empower the people as the law now permits, to a limited extent, his/her right to know.

But just the right to know alone does not benefit the poor unless the information is converted into a powerful tool of struggle. Two members of Jan Sangharsh Manch, Bharat Zala and Vinod Pandya have demonstrated the strategy of converting information received under the new law into actual benefits for the struggling masses. Bharat used the information received in relation to the flood affected farmers whereas Vinod successfully used the information received regarding the primary teachers to reach help to the cause of the farmers and primary education. As a recognition of their effort they have been chosen from Gujarat for the RTI award by NDTV which carries with it a cash award of one lakh rupees. On behalf of NSM, we congratulate our activists and urge them to continue their good work.

The Colonial Hangover: The Bhopal meet of the CPI(ML)

2009-12-22T14:12:00.000-08:00

Mukul Sinha

The special session held by the CPI(ML) at Bhopal between 7th and 12th November, 2009 to deliberate on their ideological line was noteworthy atleast for two reasons: Firstly, the meeting was held in a very democratic manner and secondly, a sincere attempt was made to break from the past and do “concrete analysis of concrete conditions”, as was repeatedly asserted by the spokesmen of the party.

Three delegates from New Socialist Movement attended the meeting as representatives of fraternal party. Delegates from 14 states also attended the session alongwith delegates from Germany and Argentina.

While presenting the party's line on International situation, Shri Sanjay Singhvi emphasized the shift of his party's position from the past CPI(ML) position of 1970. It was declared that post second world war period ought to be described as neocolonial period and the American Imperialism has established its hegemony over the world and nations like India were merely neocolonial states devastated and looted by the American Imperialism. The status of Afghanistan and Iraq were virtually that of colonies of America.

While New Socialist Movement believed that shifting from the old CPI(ML) line of semi-feudal, semi-colonial was a welcome change, the concept of the neo-colony was not acceptable as it does not in any manner describe either the mode of production or the political economy of globalization. NSM believes that during the era of globalization, the erstwhile nation states are forming a network to safeguard the flow of capital across the world and capital itself was fast losing its “national” tag.

To maximize the extraction of surplus in the era of falling profits, the monopoly capitalists of developed and even developing nations enter into various types of agreements and contracts while at the same time compete with each other to maximize their own share. Thus the flow of surplus is no longer linear or unidirectional and therefore the idea of neo-colony with America as the fountain head is no longer a correct analysis of the present day's concrete conditions. The immense enrichment of the Indian and Chinese bourgeoisies clearly establishes that they have been able to accumulate capital and a far higher rate than before. Be that as it may, the debate initiated by CPI(ML) at Bhopal is most welcome.

Left Alignment

2009-12-22T14:10:00.000-08:00

SEZs: New Mechanisms for Extraction of Surplus

2009-12-22T14:05:00.000-08:00

Sriram

No scheme of the Indian government has evoked as much controversy in recent years as the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) for industry aimed at exports. This has resulted in the displacement of poor farm families and villagers, brutal land acquisition, and gross human rights violations by the state at the behest of private capital. Thus far, the argument in the mainstream Indian media has tended to revolve around displacement and compensation, with an unspoken sentiment that if adequate compensation was given there would be no problems with SEZs.

The crux of the argument needs to change to address whether there is economic validity in SEZs. The stated rationale is a wholly economic one and constituted, in a nutshell, economic growth led by mostly private investment capital and the promotion of exports. However, this economic rationale falls apart when examined closely. While industrialization aimed at exports might be important, it has to be diversified in order to protect it from the whims of the international market. Past Indian SEZs have made neither a particularly high contribution to exports, nor are they diverse. In 2004-05, SEZs accounted for barely 5 percent of India's exports.

Among the stated benefits of the SEZ scheme has been an increase in employment and improvement in infrastructure. There is little evidence to suggest that either will happen with the SEZ plan. Employment generations are merely a guideline and not even a mandated requirement for approval. On the contrary, large corporations have always lobbied from the state, “labor flexibility". However, due to the relative strength of unions and other formations in India, this was impossible to implement throughout the country, which is why separate zones were required. In SEZ, the rights under the labor laws are now taken away.

One of the most important impacts of investment resulting in growth is widening the tax base of the national exchequer, which can then be used for a variety of social security measures, public sector undertakings, public health systems, scientific research, public education, subsidies for farmers, further industrialization measures, and a host of other social programs. The revenue loss coming from SEZs will amount to more than $40 billion over the next 5 years, by some conservative estimates, and possibly much more. This money could feed the country's 320 million hungry people for a couple of years or provide employment to at least 2 members of every rural family for the next 5 years! It does not bode well for Indian society to take this kind of a fiscal blow to cater to private capital and convert public money into private capital.

The SEZs have likewise seen no real infrastructure development except in real estate growth and speculation. It has already been reported from different areas that such land mafia are using the SEZs to carve up huge chunks of overpriced real estate.

The final argument given by Indian policy-makers for SEZs is the supposed Chinese success. The reality is that SEZs in China have resulted in arable land loss, inequities in development, rampant real estate speculation, labor violence and abuse, increasing crime including smuggling, sex trafficking, and child labor, as well as huge resource and environmental costs.

The widespread protests resulted in the federal government announcing a suspension of all land acquisition for establishing new SEZs in February 2007 until a new rehabilitation program for displaced people was realized. This temporary retreat on the part of the government represented a significant victory of sorts for the various movements and gave particular cheer for those believing in participatory democracy and people's enfranchisement.. But it is this variety that has exemplified the popular nature of resistance against SEZs and proved that a truly people-friendly and democratic industrialization alternative should be sought.

[This article is based on a much long paper written by the author for the political journal Socialism and Democracy, which can be found at: http://www.sdonline.org/46/ananthanarayanan.htm]

The Two Indias: One declares war against the other

2009-11-07T13:17:00.001-08:00

Mukul Sinha

For quite some time the Prime Minister has been trying to persuade the country that the “Maoist” are the greatest threat to the security of India. May we ask a humble question to our Prime Minister - which India does he have in mind? The India that has enriched itself enormously during the two decades of globalization or the India that does not get two square meals?

In the recent UNDP report, the poverty in India has once again been high lighted. Out of the human development indicator issued for 182 countries, India occupies the 134th Rank. In 2007 its rank was 126 where as in 2008 it was 128. No lesser person than Amrtyasen has stated that in the course of globalization and privatization the poor in India being pushed outside the development.

Most of the governmental projects are made keeping the middle class in mind and whatever little is adopted for the poor never reaches them due to corruption. The human development indicator is prepared based on education health and income of individual and in all these three, India is extremely backward even as compared to Bhutan and Srilanka. In area of public health 20 lakhs children die under the age of 5 every year of which 28% die due to want of potable water.

In our country the poverty line (BPL) is decided on the basis of consumption of calories. Those who consume between 2100-2400 calories are considered outside the BPL .By this yardstick as per the planning commission 28.5 % are within BPL but committee appointed by the Rural development ministry headed by N C Saxena has put this figure at 50% since to consume that amount of calories, a person has to spend Rs 1000/- in cities and Rs. 700/- in village instead of Rs 535 and 356 estimated by planning commission. The claim of government that globalization has reduced the percentage of poverty since 1999 is thus fully belied. The lakhs of farmers who have committed suicide in “developed “states like Maharashtra and Gujarat also expose the hollowness of government claim. On the other hand, the enormous wealth accumulated by a hand full of Indian capitalist led by Ambanis and Tatas would go to show that privatization and globalization has only helped the rich to become richer.

Keeping in mind the above facts and figures, let us examine the threat perspective posed by “Maoists” as alleged by the Government. It is said that the “Maoist” consists of around 5000 or so rag-tag militia carrying assortment of guns and explosives. Can it be believed that the mighty Indian State with millions of military, Para-military, police and other forces armed with the most sophisticated weapons can be threatened by such a rag-tag militia?

It may not be an altogether coincidence that ever since P.Chidambaram became the Home Minister of India, the war cries against the “Maoists” have become louder. It may be interesting to recall that Shri Chidambaram was previously the Board member and also the counsel of the Vedanta Group of companies which through Sterlite Company hold major interest in mining and minerals including BALCO in Chhattisgarh. It is also a geographical coincidence that mines and minerals are below the ground in remote areas inhabited by adivasis, the class of people which the “Maoists” allegedly support. It would therefore be reasonable to draw the inference, that it is not really the rag-tag “Maoist” militia that bothers the Indian State but the millions of adivasis and other poor people who live in the remotest areas of this county who are sitting on the billions worth of valuable minerals. We do not agree with the violent methods of the “Maoist” but we also do not agree with the threat perspective that is being touted by the Government. It is not a war against another army but it is a war against the poor to appropriate their share of wealth.

Editorial: Fading Out Of The Saffron

2009-11-07T13:16:00.000-08:00

The last few elections seem to be bad for the saffron color. The Loksabha elections had already proven to be unfriendly to the saffron brigade and the results led to several convulsions including the ejection of Jaswant Singh. The elections to the Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh assemblies turned out to even more hostile. Irrespective of the party, whether BJP or the Shiv Sena, both had their common color fading away in Maharashtra. The other two states had otherwise also nothing to do with this color.

Ordinarily, one should not read too much into the results of the election since the electorate, having very little choice, keeps tossing the parties in and out every five years.

But the results of the Maharashtra elections cannot be brushed aside so lightly. With two saffron outfits, namely BJP and Shiv Sena wooing the majority committee communally as well as regionally and further with the Congress-NCP misrule for the past five years, the election results rejecting the BJP-SS combine unambiguously was indeed surprising.

The electorate in the last few elections including the elections to the Rajasthan Assembly is sending a message; the majority community cannot be fooled for all the time!

Editorial: 'Left-Wing' Communism: An Infantile Disorder

2009-11-07T13:14:00.000-08:00

While we wholly disagree with the declaration of the Prime Minister that the CPI (Maoist) is the gravest threat to the security of the country, it is equally difficult for us to agree with the violent activities of the Maoist in the name of “revolution”. The call to boycott the recent assembly elections in areas of Maharashtra and other by-elections and trying to disrupt the same by violent means indicate a large degree of infantile disorder. Perhaps the party cadre should be referred to the classical work of Lenin himself on this issue. Lenin's last major work, addressed to the supporters of the Russian Revolution in the West, was entitled “Left-Wing” Communism: An Infantile Disorder - a critique of the “left-ism” of those who wanted to imitate the Russian Revolution, without paying attention to the specific conditions of their own country. Maoists are doing the same by aping the Chinese revolution.

Marxists seek to foster and educate the left-wing to develop a more sober and scientific view of the political terrain, to learn to understand the motivation of other social layers and how to win battles, rather than just fighting valiantly. A Marxist leadership does not look for the most left-wing position on any given problem, but rather tries to find the policy which strengthens and builds the self-confidence, unity and self-consciousness of the working class as a whole. The Maoist seems to have forgotten this basic lesson of Marx and Lenin after they dropped the suffix (ML)!

JET Airways Pilots Refuse To Fly

2009-11-07T13:11:00.000-08:00

as reported by Sanjay Singhvi

In December last year, the management of Jet Airways called upon all sections of the workmen to voluntarily accept a cut in wages and allowances. Many sections of the workers accepted. The pilots of Jet Airways were, at that time, organised into a society known as the Society for the Welfare of Indian Pilots (SWIP). SWIP communicated to the management that the pilots would be ready to accept any reasonable cut in wages if the foreign pilots were removed. Jet airways employs both Indian and international pilots. However, it pays almost double to international pilots than it pays to Indian pilots.

The management, however, refused to have anything to do with SWIP claiming that they were only a “welfare body” and not able to negotiate on behalf of the pilots. It went ahead and cut the allowances of the pilots unilaterally, resulting in a cut in allowances to the tune of up to 40% for pilots. In response, the pilots decided to form a union.

The management soon came to know of the formation of the union and on 29th July 2009 summarily dismissed the General Secretary and the Joint Secretary of the union. On 22nd August 2009 issued a strike notice to the management that a strike was called for 7th September if the management did not take back the dismissed pilots in the meantime.

On midnight of 7th September, pilots of Jet Airways, in a rare display of unity started reporting sick. The whole of the airlines operations ground to a halt. After 5 days of total strike, the pilots signed a settlement in which the four dismissed pilots (two more had been dismissed after the start of the action) were reinstated.

GFTU salutes the JET Airways pilots for their militant movement.

Meeting against Fake Encounters

2009-11-07T13:10:00.001-08:00

A national meet was organised by the Jamia Teachers' Solidarity Group (JTSG) at the Jamia Milia University at Delhi on 1st October, 2009 against the fake encounters that were becoming a regular feature of delivering “justice” to the “terrorists” by the police administration of several States. The meeting was presided Justice Sachhar. The meeting was addressed by both human rights activists as well as leaders from political parties. The meeting was being held with the back drop of the completion of one year of the Batla House encounter where two boys and a policeman had died.

The meeting reiterated its demand for a judicial Inquiry into the Batla House encounter. Representatives of Jan Sangharsh Manch also addressed the meeting

BJP-CPM Alliance in Bengal: Turning a full circe

2009-11-07T13:06:00.000-08:00

In the election of the president of Baxirhat Panchayat held on 12 October 2009, the BJP candidate Madhavi Pradhan won with the support of CPM members. The Congress and Trinamul Congress boycotted the election realizing that they were outnumbered by CPM- BJP combine. As the CPM gets cornered by in WB by Trinamul Congress it has adopted an unusual and unprincipled tactics of supporting the candidate of any other political party to defeat the Trinamul candidate.

In recent past election of the Mayor of Siliguri Corporation CPM backed the Congress candidate and defeated Trinamul candidate. To justify the support to the BJP candidate, Baxirhat zonal committee's president Sri Dhananjay Rabhasaid that to resist the violence unleashed by Trinamul we decided to support the BJP candidate. The party position after in the 29 seats Panchayat Committee is the CPM won 10, Trinamul 8, BJP 8, Congress 2 and Independents 2.

Left Alignment

2009-11-07T13:03:00.001-08:00

60th Anniversary Of The Peoples Republic Of China: Celebrating The End Of Maoism

2009-11-07T12:53:00.000-08:00

Mukul Sinha

At the time when the Government of India has banned the Communist Party (Maoist) and declared an all out war against the Maoist party, the Chinese Government had no qualms to organize one of the biggest marches on 1st October, 2009 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the revolution holding high a massive picture of Mao-Tse-Dong! The irony is that Mao still lives in India whereas in China, Mao is just a sanitized icon! To understand this great contradiction, it would necessary to trace the brief history of the “Cultural Revolution” that led to the rise of Deng Ziao Peng, the architect of the capitalist China.

It was perhaps the greatest triumph of history when the poor peasantry under the leadership of Mao overthrew the feudal rule in China and proclaimed the Peoples Republic of China on the Sept. 30, 1949. The Soviet Union was the closest ally of the new republic but with the death of Stalin and the rise of Khrushev, the Sino-Soviet relations plummeted. Khruschev was bitterly critical of Mao and his Commune programme. On July 18, 1959, Khruschev publicly attacked the Commune movement while speaking at Pozan, Poland. At the same time, the then defense Minister of China, Marshal P’eng Te-Huai also attacked the Commune programme and other Maoist policies. The simultaneous attacks of Khrushchev and P’eng Te-Huai were obviously more than a coincidence. Under such shady circumstances, CCP had no other alternative but to dismiss P'eng Te-huai in Sept. 1959. This dismissal is of great importance in the Cultural Revolution

By the end of 1964, the Chinese party had split in two camps. One led by Mao Tsetung representing the revolutionary faction and the other led by Liu Shao-chi and Deng-Ziao Ping, the pro-Soviet faction representing the bourgeois classes in China.

THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION:

The faction led by Liu Shao-chi fired their first slavo, not in the political sphere but in the cultural field. They came out with the anti-Mao play titled 'Hai Jui Dismissed from Office'. This play was written by Wu Han in the year 1959. Wu Han was a historian and a close associate of Peng Chen, the Mayor of Peking belonging to the Liu Shao-chi group. The play dealt with the arbitrary dismissal of ‘good’ ministers Hai Jui by the evil emperor. Mao Tsetung wrote in the People's Daily (29-5-1967) attacking the play:

'THE CRUX OF THE DISMISSAL OF HAI JUI LIES IN THE DISMISSAL ITSELF. EMPEROR CHIA-CHING DISMISSED HAI JUI; IN 1959 WE SACKED P'ENG THE-HUA. P'ENG THE-HUA IS HAI JUI'.

The intense struggle that ensued since 1966 raged till 1969 and though this struggle goes under the name of “Cultural revolution” in reality it was an intense struggle for capturing the State power between the two factions. At the end, the rightist forces under the leadership of Deng emerged victorious and the final curtain was drawn on the revolution with the death of Mao in 1976.

THE PRESENT:

After the rightists captured the State power, they did something that no other capitalist country had attempted. Deng did not dismantle the monolith State structure of a single party rule. On the contrary, keeping the red flag flying and a benign Mao staring down the Tiananmen Square, Deng changed all the production relations.

Till 1988 there was no law to employ more than eight workers in a non governmental organization. However many private organizations in connivance with local party leaders used to take advantage and they used to be called red-cap capitalist. During the end of nineties they started coming out in open giving up their red caps. The local and small sectors government organizations (SOE) were privatized and in most cases the managers of SOE became the new owners. Outside the agricultural sector about 50% of the production is under private ownership of this around one third are party members which includes “Siahiya” entrepreneurs who were earlier the leaders of the party. . Ofcourse one aspect is generally known some of the entrepreneurs were friends and relatives of party leaders.

Recent figures show that out of 3300 Chinese citizens, who have property worth 1.4 crores dollars, 2932 are children of some or the other highly placed party members. Many nationalized organizations are being run by powerful political families. In last few decade new political –manager class has arisen which has taken control of properties. The monopolistic political power has created especially an aggressive capitalist and corrupted system. Any international business deal between Chinese and foreign company there is always a political interference, secret deals and bribes. During the end of 2008 the richest man of China, Huang Guangui was arrested as the party leaders feared that some one had become more powerful than them.

The land market has grown so fast that promoters in connivance with local party leaders demolished the houses in the old areas by bulldozers over night. The residents wake up in the morning to find the word “Chi” written in white on their wall and this word means to demolish. There can not be any protest or any hope of compensation.

Today, unlike the Government of India, the fears of Imperialist America are the wealth of China and not Mao who has become merely a sanitized icon in his own country!

October Issue of Elaan

2009-10-18T21:52:00.000-07:00

Download (both English and Gujarati versions) by clicking here

COUNTLESS ENCOUNTERS: Death in Uniform

2009-10-18T21:44:00.000-07:00

Mukul Sinha

“Aab tak Chappan” became a great hit amongst the movie goers of this country. The story was woven around the heroic but ruthless eliminations of the members of the underworld by the Mumbai police sharp shooter, Shri Daya Nayak. The name of the movie suggested the immediate count of the dead and a countless to follow…

Mumbai Encounter Specialist: Daya Nayak

Encounter has now a days become an euphemism for cold blooded killing by men in uniform Shockingly, those who do it and those who get it done, are treated with awe and respect by the common people. In a recent television talk show held by a national channel of repute, almost all the hands went up in affirmation when the audience was asked whether they approve of extra-judicial killings!

Several factors may have contributed to this convoluted perception. The long delays in law Courts to punish the culprits, the inherent violence within the capitalist society, the war- mongering between the countries, the rabid propaganda against terrorism, the underworld-politician nexus etc have led to this mindless sanction to the deaths in uniform. Little do the people know that besides a few exceptions, most of the “encounters” are premeditated custodial deaths aimed for personal or political benefits!!

Reacting to one such exposure in the Isharat Jahan case, Shri Jaynarayan Vyas, the minister-spokesman of the Gujarat Government ruefully lamented that despite the fact that in other States there were more numbers of “encounters”, Gujarat always gets singled out for adverse criticism. Statistically Shri Vyas is right but why indeed does Gujarat gets singled out??

Gujarat Police Encounter Specialist: DG Vanzara

The reason is not far to see. The burning of the S6 coach of the Sabarmati Express near Godhra railway station on 27th February, 2002 which was dubbed as an Islamic terrorist attack, the violence against the minorities that followed and the series of encounters between 2002 and 2006, all appeared as parts of a whole political plot. The two electoral victories of BJP in 2002 and 2007 led by Narendra Modi appeared to be the consequential result of the communal divide created by the violence and encounters.

The encounters in Gujarat thus appear to have a direct nexus with the peculiar communal politics of the state unlike the encounters of Maharashtra, U.P., Bihar etc which are primarily directed at pecuniary gains. The killing of Sadik Jamal on 13th January, 2003 near the Galaxy Cinema, Naroda at Ahmedabad and dubbed as a terrorist attempt at the life of Narendra Modi is an eye opener in this regard. Ketan Tirodkar, the person who had profiled Sadik as a terrorist, has confessed before the MCOCA Court in Mumai in his own application MCOC Case No. 4 of 2003 as under:

7. “In first week of January, 2003, Accused No.1 (Daya Nayak) told me that he wanted to oblige a big politician in Gujarat by giving an ISI agent or some similar militant for an encounter killing. … I had met one Sadiq Mehtar aged about 18 years in Dubai, who was a house-help of Said Tariq Parveen. This Sadiq had lost some of his dear ones and his house in the Gujarat Ethnic riots. … Accused No.1 saw him and thought him to be the only easy target available after some drafting to build his profile as a militant. So Accused No.1 and myself made a profile of Sadiq about his being in Dubai in the company of “D” gang members Salim Chiplun and others and had come to India on the contract of LeT for eliminating Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

8. Then on 11.1.2003, as planned by Accused No.1 I asked Sadiq to come to the Traffic Police Post on the Andheri Flyover where Accused No.1 had kept the Gujarat Police in wait. Said came there and we both boarded the vehicle and came towards National Park. Two persons and a lady were standing there, at the gate of National Park dressed like journalists, carrying shoulder bags. I introduced them to Sadiq and alighted from the vehicle and they went away towards Gujarat. Two days thereafter I read in newspapers that Sadiq was killed in police encounter in Gujarat.

The above confession made by Ketan Tirodkar, a one time right hand man of Daya Nayak, clearly establishes the fact that people like Sadiq, Isharat, Kausarbi, Sohrabuddin etc who have died are not merely statistics but innocent citizens of this country who have met their death in uniform at the alter of communal politics. That is what sets the encounters of Gujarat apart from all others.

EDITORIAL: REDISCOVERING THE HINDU

2009-10-18T21:42:00.002-07:00

While Jaswant Singh was rediscovering the virtues of Jinnah, the RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat was busy rediscovering the “Hindu”. During his mid-September visit to Ahmedabad, he put forward an inclusive definition of the “Hindu”. Though not very original, he said that the word “Hindu” would include all those who lived in India including members of all other communities like Muslims, Christians etc!

Perhaps Bhagwatji has forgotten his guru's teachings in the confusion of vote politics. This is what Guru Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar had said in his book “We or Our Nationhood Defined”:

“German Race pride has now become the topic of the day. To keep up the purity of the Race and its culture, Germany shocked the world by purging the country of the Semitic Races-the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been manifested here. Germany has also shown how well-nigh impossible it is for Races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindustan to learn and profit by”.

“….. There are only two courses open to the foreign elements, either to merge themselves in the national race and adopt its culture, or to live at its mercy so long as the national race may allow them to do so and to quit the country at the sweet will of the national race. That is the only sound view on the minorities' problem. That is the only logical and correct solution. That alone keeps the national life healthy and undisturbed. That alone keeps the nation safe from the danger of a cancer developing into its body politic of the creation of a state within a state. From this stand point, sanctioned by the experience of shrewd old nations, the foreign races in Hindustan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture, i.e., of the Hindu nation and must lose their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race, or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment not even citizen's rights. There is, at least should be, no other course for them to adopt…”

The failure of the BJP led NDA to come anywhere near the half way of the total parliamentary seats has perhaps led the RSS Chief to redefine the word Hindu to reach out to the minorities but alas, Our Nationhood Defined by Guru Golwalkar has only one status for the minorities, their subordination to the majority. Has Bhagwatji worked out any formula by which so much of minority votes can be equated with so much of majority votes so as to conform to the Golwalkar's thesis??

EDITORIAL: THE INHUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS

2009-10-18T21:42:00.001-07:00

Whenever the Gujarat Government or its policemen gets exposed either in a law court or in the media regarding the atrocities on the minorities, their spokesmen invariably curse the persons who exposes them as anti-Gujarat human rights activists! Reacting to the “Tamang report” holding that the Isharat Jahan encounter case was a fake one, Shri Jaynarauan Vyas, the minister-spokeman of the Gujarat Government went so far as to accuse the lawyers of Ishrat to be allegedly inhuman as they did not sympathize with those who were the victims of the bomb blasts! He also asserted that Gujarat State has had lesser number of “encounters” than other states yet the events in Gujarat alone get focused. We kill less than you do- that seems to be the logic!

In the last seven years, many of the stories floated by the Gujarat Government to profile Narendra Modi as the “Hindu Hero” hunting down the “wicked Islamic terrorists” have come off the hinge. After the intervention of the Supreme Court, the investigation into the Sohrabuddin encounter case has not only revealed that the encounter was totally fake but now the same Government of Gujarat has now offered Rs.10 lakhs to compensate for the custodial death of Sohrabuddin! The SIT appointed by the Supreme Court in the nine important 2002 riot cases has also exposed and arrested important VHP and BJP leaders like Jaideep Patel and Mayaben Kodnani (who was a minister in Modi Government) proving that till now the investigators were protecting them.

The common masses of Gujarat must therefore take lessons from these exposures and refuse to succumb to the emotional communal propaganda since by doing so, they legitimize the most illegal and heinous acts of their leaders!

INDIA DURING THE THREE PHASES OF GLOBALISATION

2009-10-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

Mukul Sinha

In the first phase, i.e. from 1600 to 1947, the Indian subcontinent has been either under the Mogul rule or the British rule. The last hundred year of the British rule completely ruined the economic development of the country as it was used the Indian resources and labour for its own capitalist development. At the end of their rule, the Britishers left India with GDP consisting of just about 5.8% industrial income and around 70 to 75% of agricultural income; the rest came from small scale and cottage industry. India was but a very poor under developed semi-feudal country.

The second phase saw India adopting a secular democratic polity accompanied by a “mixed economic” policy, experimenting with the public sector undertakings with the help of Soviet union to build the infra structural industries. In the domain of foreign policy, India adopted the non-aligned policy sending a confused message that it was going to chart out a path independent of the on going process of globalization.
In the third phase however, starting from about 1990, alongwith the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Indian ruling classes integrated itself within the global capitalist network. Strangely, it did gain in the bargain for a peculiar reason. The use of the computer in every possible sector increased the demand for the trained and computer skilled labour and the Indians with their good back ground in mathematics and English, did extremely well in adopting the computer. Thus started rise of the service sector with the Indian companies leading the pack. Today, we have still 25-30% income coming from the traditional industrial sector but over 62% of the income coming from the service sector; the rest come from the agricultural sector (17 to 18%).

While on one hand, the IT companies started contributing to the national GDP by 1990s, the existing major players also gained from the access to the global market. Reliance, Tatas, Adanis etc enriched themselves from the new equation. But all the enrichment took place at the cost of the Indian working people.

Be that as it may, the Indian economy seems to have gathered some momentum and the ruling classes are losing no time to sing paeans for Globalization. A little scrutiny would show that the claim of the Indian ruling class regarding the advantage of its integration with the global capitalism is totally hollow. The Indian economy does not contribute the value addition (except in a few sectors) but is actually helping the global players to substitute higher wage labor by the Indian lower wage labor. Outsourcing is being done to cut down the cost of production and increase the profit levels of the multinationals. The Agricultural production has in fact become stagnant at the year 2000 level. To enrich the Indian monopoly Capitalist class, Special ecomomic zones, Special Investment Zones etc have been created, where the Industrial houses are exempted labour laws and payment of taxes; where the land for such purpose is forcefully acquired at the cost of the peasantry.

The worst feature of the third phase is the complete reversal of the constitutional goals. Despite adopting the capitalist mode of production as the fundamentals in 1949, our constitution did envisage a secular, egalitarian and an equitable society. By making the equal treatment under law as a fundamental right and the Directive principles to guide the making of statutory law, the founding fathers had perhaps hoped for welfare state where the rights of the weaker sections, minorities and marginalized would be protected. But alas! Globalization trampled all such fond hopes. Instead, a violent communal politics gripped the country ever since mid-eighties.

SHOULD WE ALLOW AMTS TO BE CLOSED DOWN?

2009-10-18T21:37:00.002-07:00

There was a time when the citizens of Ahmedabad use to be proud of the AMTS. 750 good buses, over 6000 experienced staff and wide transport network made AMTS one of the finest public transport service of the country, punctual and people oriented.
CAN WE BE PROUD OF AMTS TODAY?

Since the last five years the administrators of AMTS have systematically down graded the transport service to benefit private operators. Today we have around 450 private contract buses and only 350 AMTS buses. Permanent staff have been reduced only 3300. Breakdown of buses, accidents and total indifference to peoples need have become the rule in AMTS. Over and above the destructive privatisation (many political leaders have become the contractors) the government has spent around RS. 600/- crores for BRTS. Which will benefit only a very small fraction of the citizen, with the amount of money, the entire AMTS could have been converted in to a high class public transport service.

STOP PRIVATISATION AND MAINTAIN PUBLIC SERVICE

It is the duty of the Municipal Corporation to provide public transport to the citizens of Ahmedabad and the tax payer money should be used for public purpose.
WE THEREFORE DEMAND A COMPLITE IMPROVEMENT OF AMTS AND UTILISATATION Of PUBLIC FUND FOR PUBLIC SERVICE.

The commuters and AMTS workers have been holding a series of demonstration to oppose the privatisation of AMTS

LEFT ALLIGNMENT

2009-10-18T21:37:00.001-07:00

JSM TO CHALLENGE THE NANAVATI ORDER

2009-10-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

NANAVATI COMMISSION DIRECTS OFFICERS OF CHIEF MINISTER'S OFFICE TO FILE AFFIDAVIT STATING THEIR TELEPHONIC TALKS BUT DECLINES TO ISSUE SUMMONS TO CHIEF MINISTER

After about two years of Jan Sangharsh Manch making application requesting the Commission to issue summons to seven persons including the Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi for the purpose if enquiring into the role and conduct of the Chief Minister and/or any other minister in his council of ministers, police officers and political and non-political organizations in the Godhra and Post-Godhra incidents which took place between 27-2-2002 and 31-5-2002, the Enquiry Commission headed by Mr. Justice G.T. Nanavati passed order on 18-9-2009 as under:

1. Shri Omprakash Singh, who was the then PA to the Chief Minister to submit an affidavit to the Commission stating therein whether he had any telephonic talk with Shri Ashok Bhatt or Shri Gordhan Zadafia on 27-2-2002 and if he had a talk with either of them, what was the nature of that talk.

2. Shri Tanmay Mehta, who was the then PA to the Chief Minister to submit an affidavit to the Commission stating therein whether he had any telephonic talk with Shri Jaydeep Patel on 28-2-2002 and 1-3-2002 and if he had a talk with him, what was the nature of that talk.

3. Shri Sanjay Bhavsar, who was then the PA to the Chief Minister to submit an affidavit to this Commission stating therein whether he had any telephonic talk with Shri Jaydeep Patel on 27-2-2002, 28-2-2002 and 1-3-2002 and if he had a talk with him, what was the nature of that talk.

The above orders amongst others was passed by the Commission while declining to issue summons to the Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi as well as to Shri Ashok Bhatt, the then Health Minister, Shri Gordhan Zadafia, the then Home Minister, Shri R.J. Sawani, the then D.C.P, Zone V of Ahmedabad.

The Jan Sangharsh Manch has decided to challenge the order of the Commission before the High court of Gujarat to the extent where the commission had declined to issue summons to the Chief Minister.

Download Aug and Sept 2009 issues (English and Gujarati)

2009-09-04T14:44:00.000-07:00

Please download the August and September 2009 versions of Elaan by clicking on the links below:

August 2009 Issue of Elaan

September 2009 Issue of Elaan

Crisis to Crisis: Eighty Years of Globalization

2009-09-02T13:33:00.000-07:00

ARTICLE (Vol. 1, Issue 2, September 2009)

The financial crisis of 2007–09, began in July 2007 when a loss of confidence by investors in the value of securitized mortgages in the United States resulted in a crisis of liquidity (i.e. the free-flow of money/capital). The perceived credit risk in the general economy rose alarmingly in July 2007, reaching a peak on October 10, 2008. In September 2008 stock markets worldwide crashed and entered a period of large-scale downward trend, and a considerable number of banks, mortgage lenders and insurance companies failed in the following weeks. Although America's housing collapse is often cited as having caused the crisis, the financial system was vulnerable because of monetary policies in the US and Europe that made the cost of credit negligible therefore encouraging such high levels of unrealistic non-payable loans/debts.

The apparent cause of the financial crisis is the collapse of the $8 trillion investment in the US housing market. In September 2002, some economists had predicted that the collapse of the housing sector would jeopardize the survival of numerous financial institutions engaged in the housing sector. It was commonly claimed during the first weeks of the financial crisis that the problem was simply caused by reckless, sub-prime lending. However, the sub-prime mortgages were only part of a far more extensive problem affecting the entire $20 trillion US housing market: the sub-prime sector was simply the first place that the collapse affecting the housing market showed up.

People who had increased their wealth substantially with the extraordinary run-up of stock prices were spending based on this “increased” (paper) wealth. This led to the consumption boom, with the savings rate out of disposable income falling from 5% in the mid-90s to 2% by 2000. The stock-wealth induced consumption boom led people to buy bigger and/or better homes and other commodities beyond their means, since they sought to spend some of their new stock wealth on housing etc. This high-consumption low-savings bubble began to burst in 2007, as the building boom led to so much over-supply that prices could no longer be supported. Prices nationwide began to fall rapidly, with this process accelerating through the fall of 2007 and into 2008. As mortgage payment became impossible to fulfil, more homeowners faced foreclosure. Voluntary foreclosures took place when people realized that they owe more than the value of their home, and decided that paying off their mortgage is in effect a bad deal. In cases where a home was valued far lower than the amount of the outstanding mortgage, homeowners were able to effectively pocket thousands of dollars by simply walking away from their mortgage. This destroyed the Fannie Mays and Freddie Macs and the domino effect took the rest of the world under.

The root cause of the current crisis is the same as the great depression of 1929 – the surplus values locked in commodities could not be extracted and circulated. The Great Depression was a worldwide economic devastation starting in 1929 and ending in the early 1940s for different countries. It was the largest and most important economic devastation in modern history of the capitalist system.

Marxist descriptions of political economy emphasizes the tendency of capitalism to create unbalanced accumulations of wealth, leading to over accumulations of capital and a repeating cycle of devaluations through economic crises. Marxism holds that recession and depression as unavoidable under free-market capitalism as there are no restrictions on accumulation of capital other than the market itself. The end of the depression in the U.S is associated with the onset of the war economy of World War II, beginning around 1939.

In the current situation, the commodities have been sold due to the easy and cheap credit which could not be paid back. Now the financial institutes have the possession of commodities (like houses, cars etc) through mortgage foreclosures which they cannot sell, instead of shops and factories having unsold commodities during the great depression. That is why the first to collapse are the financial institutions bringing down the stock markets with a delayed collapse of the production system leading to increasing unemployment (in the USA it is approaching 8%). The current crisis will lead to another great depression if the production system collapses – a convenient yardstick is the unemployment percentage (loss of jobs). If it crosses 20%, President Obama of the USA will have no option but to admit that the current recession is indeed another great depression! This is the true picture of great, stable, reliable, benevolent, beautiful, and free-for-all Capitalism.

BJP's Fatal Obsession With Jinnah

2009-09-02T13:02:00.000-07:00

EDITORIAL (Vol. 1, Issue 2, September 2009)

Researching on Jinnah appears to have become a fatal obsession for leaders of the BJP. The spectre of Jinnah has claimed yet another victim, Jaswant Singh, a senior leader of the BJP. In 2005, L.K. Advani had almost dug his own grave when he spoke in glowing terms about Mohammad Ali Jinnah at his mausoleum in Pakistan and described him as a rare secular man! What therefore draws these right-wing leaders towards Jinnah like fire-flies towards the proverbial fire?

The partition between India and Pakistan has always been the source of the divisive communal politics of BJP. To make Jinnah the villain of the partition suited BJP (as well as the Congress) since that pitted one community against the other. The communal contradiction covered up all other contradictions that in fact gave rise to the two nation theory. Unfortunately however, blaming Jinnah alone would not result in political dividend forever for BJP. Somewhere down the line, a realization dawned inside BJP that unless Congress and, more particularly, Nehru could be shown as equally responsible for the partition, the anti-congress Hindu votes couldn’t be attracted. The problem however lay in balancing the acts of Congress leaders like Nehru, Sardar Patel, Gandhiji with that of Jinnah.

In 2005, Advani made the first attempt under the guise of paying tributes to Jinnah, got his act all mixed up and ended up losing his hold over the party. Jaswant Singh’s attempt is even more pathetic. He did attack Nehru but committed the blasphemy of attacking Sardar Patel as well who undoubtedly is an icon in Gujarat. Jaswant Singh did not have a chance to last after making that gross blunder. Who will be the next to try the fine tuning?

The real history of the division of course lies in understanding the socio-economic development of the Indian sub-continent. Though it was not the objective of the Britishers to usher capitalism in India, colonization over a period 150 years had sown the seeds of capitalism in the semi-feudal soil. Analysing the conflict in the nascent capitalism at the time of Independence, we had in August 2002, written the following in the manifesto of the New Socialist Movement:

“The pre-independence contradiction between the Muslim league represented by Jinnah and the Congress led by Gandhi, Nehru and Patel reflected the quest of the “Muslim Capital” to carve out for itself a separate nation state in order to safeguard its existence, growth and development from the suppression by the “Hindu Capital” of the majority community in case of an undivided India. The partition of the country, instead of resolving this contradiction, accentuated the same manifolds leading to the consolidation of the communal forces in both the countries. The suspicion of each others motive egged on by the fundamentalist elements of both the countries, never brought peace amongst these unnatural twins having centuries of common lifestyle and culture.”

The Muslim league, which he headed, did make attempts to remain in an united federated India and M.A Jinnah presented his famous fourteen points on March 28, 1929 to the Muslim League Council at their session in Delhi. Primarily, the fourteen points dealt with the safe-guarding of the political power of the minorities within the Indian federation more particularly in the Central legislature. Jinnah wanted atleast 1/3^rd seats to be reserved for the Muslims. The proposal of Jinnah was of course rejected by Congress.

Nation-states in the era of capitalism have their own dynamics and growth as did the births of India and Pakistan. No amount of rewriting history can change this reality. What should concern us is not what took place sixty two years back but where India and Pakistan are today and where we would go from here.

A Step Forward In The Fight Against Globalization

2009-09-02T12:58:00.000-07:00

LABOUR NEWS (Vol. 1, Issue 2, September 2009)

Numerous trade unions and progressive people’s movements came under the banner of the Trade Union Centre of India (TUCI) on August 13th in an all-India struggle against globalization through the demands for just and egalitarian labour laws. Rallies were held in the capital cities of over a dozen states in the country.

In Ahmedabad, over a thousand workers and other activists gathered for a meeting at Juna Vadaj, were addressed by leaders of the Gujarat Federation of Trade Unions, New Socialist Movement and Jan Sangarsh Manch. Amrish Patel, General Secretary of the GFTU outlined the demands raised by the TUCI with the central government on an all-India basis. Following the meeting the workers and activists held a rally from Vadaj to the Collector’s office to hand over a memorandum addressed to the Labour Minister of the Government of India. The memorandum called for numerous demands to nullify pro-globalization and anti-labour legislation, including – (1) Amendments to existing industrial and labour law to make permanency the statutory right of workers who have completed 240 days or more of service; (2) Prohibition of contract labour in perennial economic sectors; (3) Payment of back wages as a statutory right of workers in illegal terminations; (4) Immediate enactment of social security and urban housing legislation for the working poor and; (5) Immediate implementation of the Construction and Other Building Workers Act.

A cause for much hope in terms of the future of the broader struggle was the large-scale participation of non-industrial, non-unionized labour, especially large numbers of informal workers, both men and women, in the rally. In addition there was the active engagement by movements fighting for civic and human rights. This bodes well in the larger fight for protective legislation and organizing of workers in the informal sector, who form the overwhelming majority of India’s workforce. The oppression and exploitation of the working-class is one of the biggest, most virulent fallouts of globalization and the increasing penetration of monopoly capital. But the onslaught by the money-bags and powers that be can be fought back if labour unions and people’s movements remain united in treading a progressive and revolutionary path in fighting for the emancipation of those toiling masses facing the brute-end of globalization. The all-India rally held by TUCI on August 13th, 2009 was one such step in this direction.

Will Ishrat Jahan Get Justice?

2009-09-02T12:53:00.000-07:00

OPINION (Vol. 1, Issue 2, September 2009)

Sriram Ananth

On June 15th 2004, a 19-year old Mumbai student, Ishrat Jahan, was killed in an “encounter” by the Gujarat police along with three others, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. The Gujarat state government and police claimed that she was part of a team of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba operatives who were planning to assassinate Chief Minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP leaders for their role in the state-led, anti-Muslim violence of 2002. According to the FIR filed by the police after the killings, they had received intelligence that terrorists were planning to come by car from Mumbai directly to Gandhinagar to conduct their assassinations and were killed in an alleged gun-battle with the police near Ahmedabad.

The version of the police had numerous loopholes to begin with as argued in the court by advocate Mukul Sinha, First, it is curious that the Gujarat police upon receiving this supposed tip-off, didn’t inform Maharashtra police to intercept the car and arrest those inside it or even why they didn’t intercept the car right at the border of the state, instead waiting for them to come all the way to Ahmedabad. Second, in the encounter the police said that one of the occupants took position with an AK-47 and started firing, yet there were no injuries to police nor signs of any gun-battle, while all four occupants were killed (this, of course is the standard line parroted in Indian police reports of staged encounter-killings). In the present case, the complainant is from the crime branch, the person who recorded the statement is also from the crime branch, the encounter was carried out by the crime branch and the investigation was also carried out by the crime branch. Therefore, one cannot expect fair investigation from the same agency

Finally, the so-called encounter was led by none other than the notorious “encounter specialist” and a trigger-happy police officer of Modi, DG Vanzara. Vanzara and his team who are now in Sabarmati prison charged for the killings of Saurabuddin Sheikh and Kauser Bi. Their involvement in the encounter of Tulsi prajapati (another witness in the same case) is being investigated under the order of Supreme Court. State government has agreed to deposit Rs. ten lakhs as compensation in Supreme Court.

Ishrat might well have been just another statistic in the long litany of human rights violations perpetrated upon the people by the state of Gujarat.

In a brave stand taken by Ishrat’s mother, Shamima Kausar filed a petition for a CBI probes into the killings. She disputed the investigation led by the local crime branch, saying it was a fabricated case, that her daughter was not involved in any terrorist organization, and demanded a fair probe into the killings. Waging a legal battle with the support of Jan Sangarsh Manch’s lawyer and activist, Mukul Sinha, Shamima has now dealt a small, symbolic blow to Modi’s fascist state with the Gujarat High Court setting up a Special Investigation Team to probe the incident. This was announced by Justice KS Zhaveri in early August, with the court declining the request for a CBI probe but set up a three-member team comprising senior police officers of the state to investigate the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. The team, consisting of additional DGP Pramod Kumar(convener), IG Mohan Jha and DIG JK Bhatt, has been asked to submit its report within three months.

Gujarat HC rejects petition of Helios Pharmaceuticals

2009-09-02T12:40:00.000-07:00

LABOUR NEWS (Vol. 1, Issue 2, September 2009)

Amrish Patel

Hon'ble Mr. Justice S. R. Brahmbhatt of Gujarat High Court has rejected petition being SCA no 7710 of 2009 filed by Helios Pharmaceuticals challenging order of Industrial Tribunal, Ahmedabad rejecting approval applications seeking approval of their action of termination of services of ten workmen.

The brief facts of the case are that the concerned workmen with other workmen had organized themselves against company's action of indulging in to the unfair labour practice and also action of non compliance of the statutory provisions. in retaliation M/s Helios Pharmaceuticals had on 12th May 2007 issued a show cause notice to the concerned workmen and demanded explanation about their alleged misconduct of remaining absent from 9.5.2007 to 15.5.2007. The concerned workmen with the help of Gujarat Mazdoor Sabha had raised demand challenging legality and validity of show cause notice. The dispute came to be referred before the Ld. Industrial Tribunal as being Reference No.158 of 2007. The company thereafter abruptly terminated the services of the concerned workmen on 24.12.2007.

The company had filed the application seeking approval of action of termination before the Ld. Industrial Tribunal. The union Gujarat Mazdoor Sabha and the concerned workmen objected the applications raising preliminary objection to the effect that the company was required to seek permission and not the approval application as it was not maintainable in law. Considering the preliminary objection, the Ld. Industrial Tribunal after hearing the parties and after considering the fact situation as also settled legal position and Act provision held that approval applications filed were not maintainable and M/S Helios Pharmaceuticals ought to have filed permission application seeking permission by following prescribed procedure.

That being aggrieved, Company preferred above referred Special Civil Application No.7710 of 2009 before the Hon'ble High Court of Gujarat which was contested by the concerned workmen through Shri Rajesh Mankad, advocate and the Hon'ble High Court vide order dated 29.7.2009 dismissed the petition and confirmed the order of Ld. Industrial Tribunal.

The Great Chintan Baithak

2009-09-02T12:31:00.000-07:00

LEFT ALIGNMENT (Vol. 1, Issue 2, September 2009)

Pravin Mishra

The Gift of Globalization

2009-08-13T06:43:00.001-07:00

LEFT ALIGNMENT (Vol. 1, Issue 1, August 2009)

Pravin Mishra

Elaan is born!

2009-08-10T12:33:00.000-07:00

EDITORIAL (Vol. 1, Issue 1, August 2009)

While launching “elaan”, the clarion call of the New Socialist Movement, one cannot but recall the opening lines of the “Manifesto of the Communist party” written by Marx-Engels way back in 1848:

"A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Tsar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies…”

Yes, a spectre, though young and embryonic, has indeed come into existence to become the beacon for the struggling masses of Gujarat and ofcourse, the spectre to fear, hate and to be exorcised by exploiters of all hue! Ever since the middle of the nineteenth century, the capitalist world has been fondly waiting for the spectre of communism to vanish and they really believed that it had happened with the fall of Soviet Union in 1990s; the old communist parties that carried out the gigantic historical tasks of transforming the Soviet Union and China from backward semi feudal stage to the post second world war advanced societies, were perhaps not equipped to lead the peoples struggle in the post colonial period after the second world war. Dialectics, however, do not cease to operate. Like the fresh new leaves after the grey autumn, new ideas bloom. New parties are born. Some struggle to break away from the past whereas some are born free.

The soil of Gujarat however, has never been fertile for any communist movement to take roots; the working class movement under the Majoor Mahajan Sangh, influenced as it was by Gandhiji’s ideas of trusteeship, not only destroyed the working class militancy but stifled the growth of any progressive or revolutionary ideas. This void allowed the BJP led forces to capture the centre stage and create a formidable rightist state machinery by 2000. All political opposition was subdued including the weak CPI(M) and CPI. Under these fascistic conditions, the dialectical opposite was born. The New Socialist Movement (NSM) which was functioning as a quasi-political organization ever since 1989 alongwith its two sister organizations, the Gujarat Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) and the Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM), decided to shed its ambiguity and declare itself as a political party in 2002.

The birth of NSM was a direct consequence of the situation created after bloody massacre of the Muslims who were systematically butchered with the help of the State machinery in 2002. NSM firmly stood by the side of the minorities and led a militant anti-communal struggle in every possible front including in the legal battles. In the specific conditions of Gujarat on and after 2002, the party adopted an anti-communal, pro-democracy mass-line within a broad anti-globalization coalition. Different struggles of different marginalized sections were brought under a common banner and the communal division was combated through joint struggles.

Elaan will be initially published in English and Gujarati language and will share with the readers its experiences of the past seven years both in the sphere of practice as well as theory.

The happenings in West Bengal are ofcourse of foremost interest to all communists since the events of Nandigram, Singur and now Lalgarh reflects the deep malaise of the left forces in India. We deal with that event as well as the latest development in the Nanavati Commission at the other end of the country. The consolidation of the trade union struggles under the banner of the Trade Union Centre of India at the national level would perhaps create the genuine revolutionary mass organization that the left movement desperately needs today. We are proud that the first issue of Elaan starts with the clarion call to the working class to participate in the national protest day on 13^th August, 2009.

Elaan is not just the declaration of the struggle of the New Socialist Movement but is a determination to be the voice of the new left!

In search of the true shade of red: the tragedy of Lalgarh

2009-08-10T12:20:00.000-07:00

ARTICLE (Vol. 1, Issue 1, August 2009)

Mukul Sinha

It took more than 40 years for the CPI(Maoist), the metamorphosis of CPI(ML), to prove that history does indeed repeat itself but when it does, it does so as farce. In 1967, the peasant uprising in Naxalbari sent red jitters all over the country, while in 2009 the red has faded out in a place ironically called Lalgarh!

In April, 1969, the CPI(ML) was born out of the CPI(M) as an aftermath of the Naxalbari uprising in 1967. A section of the CPI(M) led by Charu Mazumdar and Kanu Sanyal the Siliguri District Committee of the CPI(M), supported a violent peasant uprising in 1967, in "revolutionary opposition" to the CPI(M) leadership. Led by Charu Mazumdar, initially an All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries was formed in November 1967, as an inner-party pro-China splinter-faction of the CPI(M). On April 22, 1969 the AICCCR formed the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), breaking away from the CPI(M)

The insoluble contradiction and the pathological hatred between the CPI(M) and CPI(Maoist) in 2009, goes back to these formative years. With time, the differences multiplied between the two parties, with the CPI(M) preferring the parliamentary path towards “socialism” and the CPI(ML), later on the CPI(Maoist), opting for revolutionary “armed struggle”. On the land question, the protagonists of Naxalbari declared the appropriation of land by the use of revolutionary force whereas the CPI(M) chose to carry out the land reform in accordance with law that partially led to their vote bank amongst the Bengal peasantry for 30 years.

Nandigram and Singur have however changed that cultivated pro-peasantry image of the CPI(M). The bankrupt policy of the CPI(M) to ally with the big Indian bourgeoisie and global capital to fuel their industrial development dug their grave in Lalgarh too. The tragedy is that the Maoists are lending a helping hand to the Trinamool Congress to dig that grave. Stuck to the jungles in search of their semi-feudal line, the Maoist put into practice their theory of “annihilation of class enemies” on the fattened cadre of CPI(M) and slaughtered several of them. What a farce my comrades!

The two leading “communist parties” of India going for each others jugular in Lalgarh would have warmed the hearts of the rightists but for their own deep differences. After the debacle in the 15^th Loksabha elections, the rath of L.K.Advani seems to have got stuck in the virulent mud of failed Hindutva. Varun Gandhi’s limb-chopping histrionics did not disturb the minority moral whatsoever; in fact such vulgarity united the minorities behind Congress and chopped off whatever little chance the BJP had to come near the power centre.

And who is smiling? Take a look at Manmohan Singh; or even Mamta. They are grinning and busy demolishing the left and posing as the allies of the poor peasants! Strange are the changes bourgeois elections can bring about within a short period. The centrist party that was struggling against the onslaught of the left and the right, leapfrogged into the seat of power. Symbolically Tatas may nurture their Nano in either West Bengal or Gujarat, bastions of the left and right respectively, but the Big Bourgeoisie of India has obviously chosen Congress to bat for them.

While the Indian big bourgeoisie, their loyal agent Congress and its allies like Trinamool are consolidating their positions, it is a tragedy that the left forces are in such disarray. Instead of alleviating the sufferings of the Adivasis of Lalgarh, the Maoist have only aggravated their agony and shockingly, it is the CPI(M) which is responsible for their suffering in the first place. In the confusion of colours at Lalgarh, will the people find the true shade of red?

Intas Pharma union Struggle: victory against contractualization of labour

2009-08-10T12:09:00.000-07:00

LABOUR NEWS (Vol. 1, Issue 1, August 2009)

In a struggle that showcases a rare victory of sorts against the increasing deregulation of labour in an era of monopoly capitalism, GFTU successfully fought against the contractualization of the workforce in Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd. What makes the victory particularly relevant to labour’s fight against the machinations of capital is that it was done through a combination of legal battles in the courtroom and militant struggle at the factory gate.

The Intas Pharma union was formed in December 2003, and on Jan 28th 2004, Intas tried to hit back refusing to employ all the contract workers and issued a lockout. This action gave a platform for workers to militantly resist the company’s oppressive tactics. Intas, in an attempt to break the union, continued with the lockout until Feb 2nd 2004. After being forced to lift the lockout, they continued to victimize the workmen in order to break the union. The workers went on a strike, and the union went on a militant offensive when management tried to resist. Stones were thrown at the factory gates, and violence ensued between management and workers.

The union had to use very creative language when going on strike because of the increasingly anti-labour legislations being passed in the country today. They had to be careful about the way the strike was worded, yet had to wage a militant agitation on behalf of the workers.

16 workers were arrested because of injuries caused to the company security officer, and were released on bail only after he was released from hospital. All 16 were terminated from the workforce. This was another move by management to break the union, as the main leadership of the union was targetted, and an attempt was made by the company to get the courts to deem the strike as illegal. Through a battle, now waged on the legal front, the union got the High Court to issue an order saying that a peaceful agitation could continue at the gates, dealing another blow to management.

The union, through the legal team of the GFTU, attempted another mechanism under labour law. An interim relief application was filed under the Industrial Tribunal. The tribunal issued two directives for management to take back the workers into full employment and with proper wages as per the contract settlement. After that, the union took up the cases of the 16 workmen who were fired. In between, management made yet another attempt to break the union by pushing for second settlements with a section of the contract workers. The union however did not buckle under pressure, and remained firm.

In a rare reversal of labour deregulation through struggle, under increasing pressure from the union led by GFTU, management gave permanent positions to 90 out of 540 workers, and the union has now filed for the rest to be absorbed as permanent staff and get paid technician-level wages, at around Rs12,000 per month. The victory is particularly relevant considering that the majority of the workforce are working-class Dalits, who fought against the double-whammy of caste and class oppression.

This struggle represents a tiny, yet important, example of the fact that even with increasing pressure on labour in an age of monopoly capitalism, militant unions who remain firm to fighting for labour’s emancipation and don’t go down a revisionist path of class-reconciliation can still beat the tide and reverse capital’s marauding march.

Fascism Through Farce

2009-08-10T12:02:00.000-07:00

OPINION (Vol. 1, Issue 1, August 2009)

Sriram Ananth

If the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat led by the Sangh Parivar showcased the execution of fascism through cold-blooded violence, the Nanavati Commission , even after seven years has unraveled nothing to give justice to the victims.

Throughout these seven years however, one movement has bravely withstood the odds and fought the good fight. A people’s David against a venomous multi-headed Goliath, Jan Sangarsh Manch has left no stone unturned to publicly corner both the state and the Commission (now synonymous with one another) in its fight for justice. Withstanding heavy pressure and intimidation early on as well as later laughable attempts at legal badgering from the state, JSM has doggedly pursued a legal struggle in bringing the main leaders of the pogrom to book.

Most recently, in what can be a huge shot in the arm for justice, JSM retrieved phone records clearly pointing to the role of numerous leaders in the 2002 pogrom, especially in the massacres of Naroda Patiya and Naroda Gam, including records from Narendra Modi’s office. Based on this evidence, a petition has been filed for the Special Investigation Team to investigate into the role and conduct of the CM and other leaders in both the communal handling of the Godhra incident as well as their involvement in the post-Godhra pogrom. The phone records along with the extra-judicial confessions of numerous mid-rung Sangh Parivar leaders during the 2008 Tehelka sting operations have shown beyond a shadow of doubt the venomous culpability of the Sangh Parivar in the 2002 pogrom.

It remains to be seen how much longer it will take for justice to be served, and what more venomous counter-measures the fascist state will take in protecting their cowardly behinds. However Jan Sangarsh Manch has proved that even in the heart of fascism in India, progressive civil society can ultimately prevail if it’s willing to fight it out. In standing up to the fascists with a smile, telling them that they can lash out at us all they want but no matter what, we will not be terrorised into submission, a small battle has already been won. The people’s David will indeed prevail, and the fascist Goliath will fall, history beckons it to…however the path will not be easy or short, and will not be lacking in struggle.

TUCI call for all-India protest against Globalization on August 13th

2009-08-10T11:58:00.000-07:00

ANNOUNCEMENT (Vol. 1, Issue 1, August 2009)

A call has been issued by the Trade Union Centre of India (TUCI) for an all-India protest on August 13th resisting increasing globalization and the pro-capitalist, bourgeois policies of the present UPA government. TUCI, a militant national trade union federation of which Gujarat Mazdoor Sabha is a leading affiliate, is planning protests and rallies across the country in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Punjab and other regions. Four demands are being made of the government: (1) Implementation of Building and Other Construction Workers Act, (2) Implementation of meaningful legislation for the social security of workers in the unorganized sector, (3) Abolition of contract labour in all perennial industries, and (4) Reversal of anti-labour trend in the judiciary

Hooch Tragedy in Gujarat and JSM's intervention

2009-08-10T11:41:00.000-07:00

ARTICLE (Vol. 1, Issue 1, August 2009)

Sriram Ananth

The tragic death of over 150 people, primarily from the toiling unorganized labour class, brought to light the deep contradictions and class-based hypocrisy in Gujarat’s longstanding policy on prohibition.

History has shown us that prohibition has never worked as a policy, giving rise to the mafia and organized criminal syndicates in the US in the 1920s and 1930s, that ultimately also infiltrated trade unions. Due to prohibition Gujarat has an alternate, underground economy on both country-made liquor as well as Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL). This alternate economy runs into many thousands of crores, with the tentacles of corruption and beneficiaries stretching right from the petty beat constable all the way to MLAs and MPs. In a stark manifestation of ludicrous hypocrisy, the Gujarat state government even asked the central government for Rs. 3000 crore as compensation for losses incurred due to the implementation of its own prohibition policy in the name of Gandhi! This they calculate as approximately 10% of the alternate liquor econonmy occurring to the state, which pegs the economy at around Rs. 30,000 crore, even from a conservative standpoint as per the state’s own calculations.

The hooch tragedy resulted in numerous organizations as well as the corrupt Congress Party opposition in the state going on rallies demanding stricter implementation of prohibition and calls for further punitive measures. Nowhere were the actual victims seen as worthy of attention, with some portions of public discourse even suggesting that they be refused compensation since they were drinking.

The class-oppressive nature of the discourse was easy to see, as the elite and upper classes would have no cause to worry since they would be able to access high-quality bootlegged liquor!

Once again it required the intervention of Jan Sangarsh Manch in a dharna on July 17^th in front of the Town Hall in Ahmedabad, to expose the hypocrisy of the prevailing discourse, and demand compensation for the victims in addition to punishment for the state and police officials involved in the hooch tragedy. Furthermore, in a sharply progressive deviation from the oppressive mainstream climate on the issue, JSM called for a review of prohibition in the state and a state-wide debate on the merits of such a problematic policy. JSM also offered full legal support to the families of the victims in their struggle for justice.

Indeed the immediate chord struck in the hearts of the affected people with JSM’s stand could be seen in a spontaneous rally supported by JSM at Kantodia Vaas, the main site of the tragedy and a centre for illicit country-made liquor. At the rally the masses readily stood with JSM and were steadfastly keen on engaging in a struggle for the justice due to them.