Saturday, November 7, 2009
60th Anniversary Of The Peoples Republic Of China: Celebrating The End Of Maoism
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!
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!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
COUNTLESS ENCOUNTERS: Death in Uniform
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.
“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
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
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!
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
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.
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?
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
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
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