WEST BENGAL CITU Calls for Vigorous Struggle

HOWRAH, 12^th November: THE 10th state conference of CITU West Bengal committee has vowed to launch a vigorous struggle to defend the rights of the workers in the state. A programme to mobilise wider sections of workers in defense of the gains that are being attacked now in the state has been formulated from the conference.

The state conference was held at Comrade Jyoti Basu Nagar (Howrah) and Comrade M K Pandhe Manch (Sarat Sadan) during November 8 - 11, 2012.  The conference was  inaugurated by A K Padmanabhan, president of CITU, after hoisting the Red flag and offering floral tributes to the martyrs.

In his inaugural speech, Padmanabhan said the CITU would, jointly with other trade unions, resist the onslaught on the people launched by the UPA-II government in the name of economic reforms. Referring to the severe attacks against the workers in West Bengal in the changed political situation, the CITU leader expressed confidence that the workers of West Bengal will play their historical role in the present situation like in the earlier days.

Padmanabhan said the Indian economic policy regime has undergone a right wing shift since the introduction of neo-liberal economic policies. The union government is acting under the dictates of the Word Bank and the chambers of commerce in order to make the labour laws of the country flexible. He warned that the trade unions would strongly resist such an attempt. Already the multinational companies are not implementing the existing labour laws. They are brazenly restricting the workers from participating in the trade unions. Even the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the people are being undermined by the big corporate and MNCs. The union government is a mere spectator to these violations. In such a scenario if the labour laws are further diluted, the workers will be subject to maximum exploitation.

Padmanabhan emphasised the necessity of protection of the trade union rights along with ensuring of the social security, control of price hike and universal public distribution system. He said that CITU has always been in favour of the united workers movement from its class outlook. After travelling a long path, all the central trade unions have called for a 48-hour countrywide general strike on the 20th and 21st February 2013. This has happened for the first time in the history of independent India. The trade unions will launch a vigorous campaign to make the general strike successful and informed that a march to parliament will be held on 20th December to highlight the demands of the working class.

Kali Ghosh, secretary of CITU West Bengal state committee placed the report in the conference. While placing the report he said that the workers movement of the state is facing various attacks during the tenure of the Trinamool Congress government. He said the situation is so bad that the chief minister refused to meet their delegation that sought to submit a memorandum about the growing attacks on trade unions in West Bengal.

Tapan Sen, general secretary of CITU, in his speech exposed the anti-people nature of the neo-liberal policies being implemented by the union government and emphasised the need for a united struggle against these policies.

In the context of growing number of unorganised sector workers and contractual workers, the 10th state conference emphasised on their problems and issues in detail and outlined the path of future programmes. Special discussions were held on these two aspects.

The delegates in the conference discussed the issue of the contractual labour in detail, especially the growing attack on the labour laws of the country in the name of labour market flexibility. How the neo liberal globalisation policies are impacting the working class people of West Bengal was also discussed in particular. The organisation has decided to observe 12th December 2012 as the demand day for the contractual workers. The workers shall unitedly hold their protest in front of the offices of the department of labour in all the districts. The delegates also pointed out the lethargy of the state government in implementing the social security and welfare programmes initiated by the earlier Left Front government. The delegates exchanged their experiences of the struggle against the terror attacks against the trade union movement by the Trinamool backed hooligans. The delegates expressed confidence of taking on this challenge in the wake of the historic success in the state of the 28th February all India general strike called by the central trade unions. The delegates underlined the importance of consolidating various streams of worker movements in order to achieve the political goals.

The 10th state conference elected the new CITU West Bengal state committee. Shaymal Chakraborty has been re-elected as the president and Dipak Dasgupta has been elected as the secretary.

MASSIVE RALLY

On the concluding day of the conference, on 11th November, the  rally was held at Dumurjala in Howrah. The rally turned out to be a mammoth one. Addressing the rally, former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said a desperate situation is prevailing in the state in which farmers are unable to sell produce and industrialists are shying away from investing in the state. “The government failed to attract a single fresh investment. IT majors Wipro and Infosys, who came here during the Left rule, are now thinking of leaving the state,” said Bhattacharjee.

Slamming the government for taking the state towards an industrial disaster in absence of a clear policy, Bhattacharjee referred to how Singur has now become a desert. “Had the car manufacturing factory come up there, about 5000 to 6000 people would have got jobs. Hooghly’s profile would have been different by now, if our plan to bring industry to Singur was not thwarted. At Haldia, one cargo-handling agency was driven out to give way to a company run by a Trinamool Congress MP. This state is gradually moving towards industrial doomsday.”

Bhattacharjee said that the transport workers and the whole transport sector of the state are in a deplorable condition. Most private transport vehicles are lying idle as the agencies are becoming incapable of managing the cost of the business. Transport workers are not getting salaries, pensions, and are compelled to resort to suicides. This is the crude reality of the state where the salaries of ministers in the TMC-led government had gone up from Rs 7000 during the Left Front rule to Rs 27,000 now. And the government is acting as a sleeping beauty, he criticised.

Bhattacharjee also highlighted the farmers’ misery saying they are finding it difficult to sell their crop as the “price they are getting is uneconomical”. Explaining the current labour scenario of the country. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee sharply criticised the Manmohan Singh government for incessantly taking anti-people decisions that have severely affected the working population of the country.

Tutu Bose and the Haldia mess

A look at the man, his business and his political affiliations

Shine Jacob & Ishita Ayan Dutt / Kolkata

Business Standard, November 13, 2012, 0:40 IST

When ABG Shipyard recently said that it was exiting the Haldia docks of the Kolkata Port Trust, it blamed "vested interests" for causing a great loss to the national exchequer. Haldia Bulk Terminals, a joint venture between homegrown ABG Infralogistics and French company Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, had been contracted to operate two mechanised berths, but, it alleged, cargo was diverted to the expensive manual berths. While Haldia Bulk Terminals charged the Kolkata Port Trust Rs 75 per tonne of cargo, the manual berths charged Rs 150 and above. That was the loss to the exchequer the company was referring to; what about the vested interests?

The vested interests the company was alluding to is Ripley & Co promoted by Swapan Sadhan Bose, aka Tutu Bose or Tutuda, a familiar face in Kolkata's business circuit, but little known about. In a press release issued on September 28, Haldia Bulk Terminals accused Ripley of fomenting trouble at the docks. Ripley, incorporated in 1946, operates seven manual berths at Haldia, which together handle almost 50 per cent of the non-mechanised cargo at Haldia.

In 2010, when Haldia Bulk Terminals signed an agreement with the Kolkata Port Trust to operate two mechanized berths till 2020, it unknowingly encroached into what is Bose's territory, the Haldia Dock Complex. Friend-turned-foe and former Tamluk MP Lakshman Seth, who was also the chairman of the Haldia Development Authority, has alleged that onshore operations at Haldia are handled by Bose without any competitive bidding for several decades, flouting all rules of the Indian Port Trust Act. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the former chief minister of West Bengal, said on Sunday: "At Haldia, one cargo-handling agency was driven out to give way to a company run by a Trinamool Congress MP." The lawmaker he was referring to was unmistakably Srinjoy, Bose's son.

THE MAN

Age: 64  Education: Commerce graduate from St Xavier's College, Kolkata  Business: Cargo-handling, customs clearance, stevedoring, operation & maintenance of berths, mining, transportation, exports, news publication and radio  Clients: Steel Authority of India, Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals, Rungta Mines, Balmer Lawrie, Kolkata Port Trust, among others   Turnover: Company website lists a turnover of Rs 300 crore for 2008-09  Mission: To provide quality service to customers and strive to enhance international trade  Political links: Former Rajya Sabha MP from West Bengal, close to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee; son Srinjoy is a Rajya Sabha member from the Trinamool Congress

People connected to Haldia, even remotely, know that Bose has a virtual monopoly on its onshore operations. That's perhaps why Haldia Bulk Terminals has said that it found the going tough right from the beginning. The fight over cargo spilled into the public domain in August this year when Haldia Bulk Terminals wrote to the Kolkata Port Trust accusing it of failing to make good on its promise of cargo, resulting in the company finding it hard to keep its two berths operational. (Haldia Bulk Terminals had invested Rs 160 crore on the equipment for the two berths; its accumulated losses stood at Rs 60 crore.) The company said it would be forced to suspend operations if the cargo allocation didn't change. In fact, it stopped work soon after that. The Kolkata Port Trust, in turn, moved the Calcutta High Court seeking a direction to Haldia Port Terminal to resume work. The court agreed but asked the Kolkata Port Trust to look into Haldia Bulk Terminals' plea for more cargo. Work resumed but any attempts to divert cargo from the non-mechanised berths were resisted by workers from the manual berths. Labour, in West Bengal, has always been a highly emotive issue. A bigger stumbling block for Haldia Bulk Terminals couldn't have happened.

A month later, the company began to take names openly. The September 28 press statement from Haldia Bulk Terminals read: "After being assured by the Kolkata Port Trust that it was safe to work inside HDC (Haldia Dock Complex), Haldia Bulk Terminals made an attempt to resume operation today. Haldia Bulk Terminals’ employees and port officials were attacked by a mob of about 400 persons while working inside the port. Former Haldia Bulk Terminals employees, Cargo pool and Ripley's employees were clearly identified among the mob." A section of the Kolkata Port Trust officials had also alleged that Ripley had written a letter to its employees on September 14 that if additional cargo was allocated to Haldia Bulk Terminals, according to the Calcutta High Court order, then the company may have to go for retrenchment of workers. The sequence of events thereafter is well known.

Ripley, however, is just one of Bose's many companies; there are many outfits — from stevedoring and cargo-handling to transport — owned by Bose that rule over Haldia. According to Ripley's website, it is the flagship of a large group that has diversified businesses like cargo-handling, customs clearance, stevedoring, operation and maintenance of berth, mining, transportation, exports and news publication. Its mission, as declared on the website, is "to provide quality services to customers and grow as one of the leading logistics organisations in India. It also desires to utilise expertise for enhancing international trade." Several attempts to reach Ripley, Bose, and his son, Shoumik, who is in charge of Ripley operations, proved futile. A questionnaire sent to Bose and Ripley's official email address didn’t elicit any response; a visit to the Ripley office didn’t yield any result.

The Ripley group's turnover in 2008-09 was Rs 300 crore. It's anybody's guess how big Bose's empire is today. The family-owned E C Bose & Company has just completed 160 years in stevedoring. Bose has today expanded his port operations across Paradeep, Vishakhapatnam, Tuticorin and Chennai. While stevedoring and cargo handling is the cash cow, the business interests are diverse. A Kolkata-based industrialist says that Bose has been allotted some agricultural land in Ethiopia. In Dubai, where Bose spends more than half his time now, he runs Radio Asia Network and Dolphin Recording Studio. The radio network — Radio Asia (AM) in Malayalam, Suno 1024 (FM) in Hindi/Urdu and Super 947 (FM) in Malayalam and Tamil — reaches out to Indians in West Asia. The interest in media is not new, though. The initial diversification for Bose happened through Bengali newspaper Sangbad Pratidin in August 1992. Though not the official mouthpiece of the Trinamool Congress, it is considered to be a good cousin. In the mid-1990s, he launched the Kolkata edition of The Asian Age, which he exited towards the end of the decade by selling a 74 per cent stake to Vijay Mallya.

Much like business interests, Bose's political affiliation has also varied over the years. In the early years, Bose was known to be close to the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and was said to have some business ties with late Jyoti Basu's son, Chandan Basu. It was during those times that Bose acquired a 74 per cent stake in state-owned Niramoy Polyclinic (now AMRI) along with S K Todi, also known for his Left leanings. It was given on lease to the consortium. Later, in 1996, Bose sold his stake to Emami. (This hospital was in news last December when a fire there killed 91 people; Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee retaliated by arresting six Marwari directors of the hospital.) But not just the communists, Bose maintained close ties with the Congress as well. "He always had great contacts. When I had some issues with my business, he offered help to resolve it and that was much before he joined the Trinamool Congress," an industrialist recalls.

Bose crossed over to the Trinamool Congress in early 2000. It was his political ambition that made him do so and he is Banerjee's man for all seasons. In 2005, he became a Member of Parliament, backed by the Trinamool Congress, and since then there has been no looking back. Today, Bose is pretty much considered to be the economic backbone of the party that runs a cash-strapped state. His son, Srinjoy, has taken his place in the Rajya Sabha from the Trinamool Congress.

Though Bose keeps his business interests low-key, he flaunts his affiliation with the Mohun Bagan Athletic Club. For decades he has been the president of the club. It was his initiative to bring in Mallya who now owns the club. "I used to think Tutu owns the club," an industrialist says. Though the recent fiasco has brought Bose's port operations to the fore, for all the wrong reasons, people who operate at Haldia describe him as "a smart, effective businessman who knows how to get his work done".         

Police report contradicts Mamata Banerjee's claim on Birbhum violence

TNN | Nov 9, 2012, 03.27AM IST

A preliminary police report on the violence that broke out in Birbhum's Loba village in West Bengal on Tuesday demolishes Mamata Banerjee's claim that the operation was planned by the district police on its own and the government was not aware of it.

KOLKATA/BIRBHUM: A preliminary police report on the violence that broke out in Birbhum's Loba village in West Bengal on Tuesday demolishes chief minister Mamata Banerjee's claim that the operation was planned by the district police on its own and the government was not aware of it.

Taking cue from the police report, a section of Birbhum police also alleged that it was industries minister Partha Chatterjee, who had insisted that the police recover Bengal-Emta's earthmover lying idle in the village. Some of the police officers claimed Chatterjee had called up now-shunted SP Hrishikesh Meena on October 24 and asked him to expedite the recovery. Later, Trinamool minister from the district Chandranath Sinha and party Birbhum president Anubrata Mandal kept up the pressure. Loba villagers alleged Mandal had accompanied the police force to the village at the break of dawn on Tuesday. Mandal, however, said he was in Kolkata at the time.

Chatterjee, too, denied the charge after a detailed discussion with the CM on Thursday. "I did not give any direction, neither did anyone from my department or the government give any direction. Investing officers can check my call records. The investigation is on. Everything will be exposed. I reiterate that the CPM has a hand in the violence. I can provide evidence to substantiate the claim. Dubrajpur villagers will meet me tomorrow," he said. He added that Maoists could also have had a role in the incident.

Sensing the political repercussions of the case, the chief minister has decided to meet a delegation of Loba villagers on Friday.

The blame game apart, IG (western range) Gangeswar Singh, in his preliminary report to ADG (law & order) Surajit Kar Purakayastha, has put on record the procedures that the district police followed before they went ahead with the final operation. The procedural communication and district intelligence report that was sought for days before the operation leaves beyond doubt that officials in the state administration were kept posted from time to time. A section of the Birbhum police also claimed that the accused SP had sent text messages to the police top brass, including director general of police Naparajit Mukherjee, on the day of the incident at 6.22 am. The fact that senior police officers had planned for a worst-case scenario is evident from their sending an executive magistrate with the police force to the spot, a step that is mandatory for taking action including firing.

Even the political bosses were aware of the ground realities. Chatterjee had a first-hand experience of the tension building up in Loba when he visited the village in July. Later, he met representatives of Loba villagers and PDS secretary Samir Putatunda in the Assembly where the agitators promised to allow Bengal-Emta to take away the machinery if the government helped in sorting out the impasse. In September, villager Felaram Mandal wrote to the CM urging her intervention in the matter. It didn't catch the CM's attention.

A Left Front delegation led by CPM's Anisur Rahman visited Loba on Thursday, but were cold-shouldered by the villagers. "The problem started during the Left Front rule. Since then we have knocked on the doors of all political parties — CPM, Congress and Trinamool Congress. All of them assured us that they would take up the cause but didn't do anything," the agitators said.

It’s TMC vs TMC in West Bengal’s latest land row

Madhuparna Das

Indian Express, Posted online: Thu Nov 08 2012, 02:54 hrs

Dubrajpur, Birbhum : The violence in Dubrajpur in Bengal’s Birbhum district by villagers protesting against land acquisition by a private coal mining company has a strong resemblance to similar campaigns in Singur and Nandigram. Like in those two places, here too suspected Naxalite activists played a key role and joined hands with a range of political outfits in the ‘Krishi Jomi Raksha Committee’ (KJRC) or Save Agricultural Land Committee that led the protests.

However, in a significant difference, the local unit of the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress is sharply divided over the controversy. While one faction of the party is with the KJRC, another is said to have been helping the mining firm acquire land. This faction was regularly interacting with the firm’s officials at their office in Dubrajpur which has been closed since mid-September.

Hundreds of villagers armed with bows, arrows and crude bombs had attacked a police contingent in Loba village near Dubrajpur in the early hours of Tuesday when they went there to remove earth-moving equipment of the mining firm, Bengal EMTA. The equipment was used by Bengal EMTA for excavation about a year ago but had been lying idle after the villagers protested. More than 25 policemen were injured and some villagers claimed to have suffered bullet injuries.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday denied the police had opened fire but ordered an administrative inquiry into the incident. She described the incident as “unfortunate” and said the villagers were provoked by outside elements. The inquiry will reveal who provoked the villagers, she added. “The state government is with the villagers and the state government’s declared policy is not to acquire land for private parties. The villagers were not at fault because some of them were provoked,” Banerjee said.

On Wednesday, when The Indian Express visited Loba, the villagers had dug trenches across the main roads leading to the village to stop police and other officials from entering - a repeat of the tactics used in Nandigram. KJRC members and some other villagers were well-prepared for Tuesday’s trouble as they had stocked bows, arrows, crude bombs and some other traditional weapons as they had been tipped off about the police action, sources said.

Many villagers whose land had been acquired were unhappy with their compensation and had held on to the earth-moving equipment for the last 11 months, hoping to force Bengal EMTA into fresh deals. KJRC leader Asish Mishra said that Naxalite group CPI (ML) and other political groups such as the Party for Democratic Socialism were present in the village and were part of the protests for the last three years.

Bengal EMTA had proposed to acquire 3,353 acres of land spread over 11 villages and a population of 20,000 for the open-cast mine project. But villagers alleged that there was no proper rehabilitation planned for the displaced and claimed that they had raised this about four months back when state commerce and industry minister Partha Chatterjee visited the area. Chatterjee had reportedly promised to take up the issue with the mining firm. The minister visited Loba again Wednesday and promised the villagers he would take up the issue with Bengal EMTA.

A company official, however, said there was no room for new negotiations on the price paid for the land. The company has so far paid Rs 4 lakh per acre of river-bank land, Rs 8 lakh per acre of one-crop farmland, and Rs 10 lakh per acre of multi-crop farmland. It has acquired 500 acres from private owners and another 200 acres from the government. The company would abandon the project but not renegotiate the land price, said the official who did not want to be identified.

ABG pulls out of Haldia on safety concerns

Cites safety of employees as reason for pullout after the abduction of three officials at gunpoint last Sunday

BS Reporter / Kolkata, November 1, 2012, 0:41 IST

West Bengal today saw a Singur re-run, with private cargo handler ABG Haldia Bulk Terminals (HBT) pulling out of Haldia.

Although many projects in the state are in limbo, this is the first major pullout after Tata Motors’s decision to move out of West Bengal in October 2008. What may have precipitated into the move was Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s “dissatisfaction”. Banerjee had claimed on Tuesday that “nothing has happened” at Haldia, when asked about the abduction of three HBT officials. She labelled it a conspiracy of a section of the media and the Communist Part of India (Marxist).

The company’s counsel today informed the Calcutta High Court that the company would terminate its operations in Haldia. ABG has also written to the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT), seeking termination of its 10-year contract with the port.

CAUGHT IN RED TAPE Other projects that have been terminated or are yet to be completed
Projects	Rs cr
Projects stuck
JSW Steel Ltd's Salboni plant	35,000
Videocon Steel plant	22,000
Bhushan Steel project	20,000
Jai Balaji Steel project	16,000
Kulpi Port project	2,600
NTPC Katwa project	1, 800
Infosys and Wipro	1,500
Projects scrapped
Haripur Nuclear project	700,000
PCPIR Nayachar	96,000
Singur Tata Nano	2,000
Source: RBI

The move would put 350 jobs in jeopardy. The company will also approach the court seeking compensation for the losses that it suffered at Haldia, including the amount it paid for security. Tata Motors had also asked for compensation from the state government for its losses at Singur.

The immediate trigger was the abduction of three HBT officials — Manpreet Jolly, Jagadish Behara and Bushan Patil, including his wife and one-year-old daughter — at gunpoint last Sunday by an unidentified mob, allegedly backed by the TMC. Although they were later released, the officials were told “not to come back to Haldia”. This happened even after the firm paid more than Rs 17 lakh for the deployment of police personnel towards restoration of peace, based on a Calcutta High Court order.

“The safety and security of our employees is of paramount importance and above business interests. We have to inform you that we have been left with no option, but to walk out from Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) with immediate effect. We cannot work in an environment where the authorities responsible for ensuring the law and order and success of the project have openly renounced and abandoned their responsibilities,” said Gurpreet Malhi, chief executive officer, HBT.

Responding to this, a senior port official said on condition of anonymity: “If the state government cannot give protection, what can the port do?”

According to Malhi, HBT has made an accumulated loss of Rs 60 crore from Haldia operations, and that it has so far invested Rs 150 crore since inception.

KoPT was getting a net gain of Rs 150 per tonne vis-a-vis only Rs 25 per tonne from other berths. Therefore, suspension of HBT’s operations will imply an immediate revenue decrease of 75 per cent on dry bulk amounting to Rs 90 crore a year for HDC.

Last year, Haldia Dock handled 17 mt of dry bulk cargo, which is already down by two mt this year.

Trouble started since September, when HBT decided to suspend its operations from September 8, seeking more cargo from KoPT. However, following a court direction, it had to reach an agreement with the port.

According to the agreement, all vessels carrying dry bulk cargo arriving at HDC will be allocated to HBT berths No. 2 and 8, and if these berths are engaged, vessels will be allocated to other berths.

Things took a violent turn once the firm stopped operations on September 24 citing political unrest and retrenched 275 people on grounds of an oversized payroll of 650 and loss in operations.

There was resistance from the TMC-backed INTTUC, which said that it will not allow the firm to resume work, unless the retrenched workers were taken back.

“We were instrumental in revival of the Haldia Dock through the mechanisation of berths, which has resulted in a more than three-fold increase in productivity to more than 20,000 tonnes per day/per berth. Now, we regret our decision to go to Haldia. The economy of West Bengal has once again been denied the opportunity of growth, modernisation and development,” said Malhi.

General Strike Evokes Huge Response Across the state

KOLKATA: LIFE virtually came to a standstill in West Bengal on September 20 in the 12-hour general strike called by the Left Front in the state. Rail and road communication was disrupted, business establishments were mostly closed. In the government offices, there was very thin attendance despite threat from the state government.

Suburban train services were hit with opposition activists squatting on the railway tracks in various stations under Eastern and South Eastern Railways.

Streets in Kolkata wore a deserted look, as people generally preferred to stay indoors. Private bus services and taxis were almost non-existent, though a few government-run buses were seen on the roads. The Kolkata Metro Railway services were normal, but a spokesperson said there were very few commuters.

There is perceptible response to the call particularly among the small traders and shops. Shops and market places remained closed in most of the areas of the state.

The strike was near total in industrial areas. Factories and manufacturing units remained non functional.

The strike exposed the duplicity of Trinamool Congress. While they vociferously opposed the diesel price hike and the opening up of retail for FDI and decided to come out of the UPA on these issues, the state government and the ruling party came all out against the strike in the state. The chief minister herself issued threats to employees, workers and transporters. TMC activists attacked strike supporters in many places. They tried to forcibly open shops and attack on the road blockades. The people of West Bengal however rejected the terrorisation and strongly registered their protest against the policies of the centre.

Hundreads of processions were organised by the Left parties throughout the state. Led by its chairman Biman Basu and leader of opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra, the Left Front took out a large procession from central Kolkata's Moulali to Mallickbazar.

"People have supported this strike spontaneously to protect their own future. If the government does not roll back its decisions, there will be a bigger movement in the coming days," Basu said.

‘Translate Peoples’ Discontent into Concrete Movement’

CALL FROM CPI(M) WEST BENGAL 

KOLKATA: THE two-day extended meeting of CPI(M) West Bengal state committee, which took place during September 15-16, 2012 in Kolkata, called for more organised movement on the burning issues of the people. After extensive discussion, the meeting noted that there are discernible signs of peoples’ discontent against the state government which has to be translated into concrete movement. The extended meeting reviewed the political situation in the state and the condition of Party  organisation at different levels.

CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat in his inaugural speech spoke against the anti-people policies of the central government and said that the latest neo-liberal offensive launched by Manmohan Singh government will only add to the sorrow of the working people. The hike in the price of diesel will have cascading impact on prices of all commodities and will further hit the common people. The worst hit would be the farmers who are already reeling under the impact of rising costs of production. He added that FDI in retail sector will have a direct adverse impact on the employment of a huge chunk of the population who are engaged in small and unorganised retail trade. He also criticised the UPA government for its faulty natural resource allocation policy where precious natural resources were being allocated at throw away prices.

Karat also warned about the worsening communal situation in the country and the role of different communal and fundamentalist forces, particularly after the events in Assam.  He emphasised that the independent activities of the Party must be strengthened so as to build Left unity and move towards a Left and democratic alternative. To achieve this, the fight against liberalisation must get priority in the coming days, he underlined.

CPI(M) state secretary Biman Basu, moving the agenda for the meeting, outlined the attack on democracy and democratic institutions, the mounting burdens on the people and ever increasing crimes against women. The movement, through mobilising the people, has to be broadened in this perspective. That calls for strengthening the Party organisation, uplifting the political and ideological level of the Party,  more active role of Party members and improvement of functioning of Party committees. Basu emphasised the need for intensive work among the toiling people and particularly among the urban and rural poor. He has also stressed upon the need to mobilise younger sections and women. 

A total of 33 comrades from different districts and mass fronts deliberated on the report. While summing up on the second day, Biman Basu said that only mass struggles can change the situation. What is needed is a patient effort of the Party among the masses.

One of the major content of discussion was the panchayat elections due to be held in the coming months. Biman Basu urged to treat this election as a mass struggle and move forward with courage and determination, even in the face of attacks from TMC and other forces. Decentralisation and exercise of peoples’ rights have come under severe attack. This has to be exposed among people through intensive campaign. The meeting passed a resolution protesting these attacks and decided to fight the elections facing all odds. Though there is an apprehension that TMC will try to prevent opposition from contesting in many areas and will force bloodshed, the CPI(M) has decided to combat these attacks and an all out preparation to mobilise people would start immediately. Polit Bureau member Suryakanta Misra explained the situation in the rural areas and outlined the main tasks in this very important political battle.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, addressing the meeting, said there are perceptible positive changes in the state. We could see the positive impact of Party’s efforts in many areas. However, the balance of forces are still tilted towards the anti-Left forces. The people who left us have not returned entirely. A degree of alienation is still there. Our priority is to win over those sections of the people. We have to concentrate among the toiling people and the poorer sections. The impact of centre’s fresh reform initiatives and misrule of TMC government in the state would bring a large scope of building movements. But to respond to the situation we need more developed and cleaner Party organisation.

The extended meeting decided the following tasks before the Party: to build up powerful movement against neo-liberal attacks on people;  take up the issue of food security and mobilise poor people; take up issues of demands and social security of the unorganised sections of workers at local level;  build up movement against deteriorating public services; mobilise people against anarchy in educational institutions; mobilise democratic opinion against deterioration in law and order situation and particularly against growing attacks on women; massive campaign in villages against attack on panchayats.

The meeting also called for a widespread mass movement against the latest anti-people measures of hike in price of diesel, the cut back of subsidy on cooking gas, ushering in 51 per cent FDI in the retail sector and disinvestment of profit making PSUs. It called upon to make the general strike in West Bengal on September 20, called by Left Front a success.

The meeting also adopted a resolution extending support to nationwide strike on February 20th and 21st, 2013, called by central trade unions.

It has been decided that a mass collection will be organised on September 23 to collect money for the distressed and homeless people of Assam. 

Apart from Party’s general secretary, Polit Bureau members Sitaram Yechury and S Ramachandran Pillai also attended the meeting. Polit Bureau member Nirupam Sen presided over the two day session.

No takers for Didi-giri

THE ASIAN AGE, Sep 22, 2012

Shobhaa DE

Whether it was the aggressive art mart or the gold mart, going by the enthusiastic shoppers, nobody could believe Didi had dropped a bombshell

I happened to be in Kolkata when Mamata Banerjee made her dramatic announcement to pull the plug on the UPA. Nobody was surprised. There was a bus strike in the city and people were rejoicing. It meant there would be far less traffic on those clogged streets, less pollution in the atmosphere and more time to focus on the dengue outbreak that is obsessing Kolkatans.

Every time there is even a hint of a mosquito buzzing within a five-foot radius, locals duck for cover or start flapping the air frantically with anything handy — even a sturdy handbag.

Didi’s latest stunt doesn’t cause a single ripple. “It was expected,” says a corporate honcho tiredly. Apparently, anything and everything is “expected” from the mercurial Didi. And no, people don’t want her to leave her hard-won gaddi. Not yet. “The commies are waiting to get back into the saddle… but that’s not happening,” announces an industrialist as we nibble on exquisite salads. Life appears to be looking up for those who have embraced Didi’s extraordinarily eccentric and imperious style of governance.

There is a great deal of hope invested in her ability to somehow get things moving in that sluggish state. While people wait for the miracle, those close to her are reaping the myriad benefits of being Didi loyalists. Their projects are getting cleared phataphat, and money — a great deal of it — is being made. In such an upbeat scenario, it is foolish to argue with the converts. Didi is their saviour. She has rescued them from the maws and jaws of the previous regime and granted a carte blanche to go forth and mint money — no questions asked. In the process, her party hasn’t done too badly either. There’s something to be said about friends with benefits in these difficult times.

Like Didi’s faithful followers who argue (rather unconvincingly) against policies Didi refuses to endorse, there are the non-believers, albeit in a conspicuous minority, who articulate their misgivings over watered-down Scotch, while reeling off glories that once were Bengal. They are least bothered about the neighbourhood kiranawalla’s future and what will happen to his shop once the biggies enter the market. Wal-Mart politics is for those who live in Delhi. Diesel prices affect interstate truck drivers, not them. Didi’s got it all wrong, they sniff dismissively, as the old bearer in their favourite club, pads around getting refills. Similarly, the young, rich and restless are worried about Kolkata’s non-existent nightlife, given the early curfew and the absence of lively hangout places. One of them was earnestly urging a high-ranking official to “reconsider” the spoilsport policy since shutting bars at 11 pm was such a downer… a barbaric ruling, he called it, without a hint of irony. A disconnect this deep is hard to bridge.

It is happening all over India. And those who refuse to address the growing divide are going to pay for their resistance eventually. Most people are living in a fatalistic zone, worried about day-to-day adjustments and compromises. They are totally disengaged from the bigger political picture that, in fact, does impact their lives on every conceivable level. I watched the images of Vishwakarma in Kolkata and asked around how the preparations for the annual Durga Puja celebrations were progressing. Was there a sense of panic at rising prices… did the escalated cost of diesel dampen their enthusiasm? Was their confidence in Didi shaken? What about the prospect of a mid-term poll disturbing the tempo of their lives? Were any of these issues of any significance? Bilkul nahi! The Vardan Market was full of shoppers making early purchases from small boutiques that specialise in selling designer knock-offs. Speaking to a few women haggling over an Anamika Khanna fake, they stared at me like I was crazy. Rollback or no rollback, they were going all out to enjoy a great pujo, minus any cutbacks. Whether it was the aggressive art mart or the gold mart, going by the enthusiastic shoppers crowding bazaars, nobody could possibly have believed Didi had just dropped a bombshell.

How things unfold after the flop Bharat Bandh will be interesting to monitor. The key word being flung around is “consultation”. Assorted netas are going purple in the face about not being consulted by the Congress Party before taking such a momentous decision. But hello! Since when did the Congress ever consult anyone…. Allies included? Countless ad hoc decisions have been imposed on the nation in the past… been weakly debated and eventually junked. Most times, the aam janta has seen through the charade, shrugged and gone on with life.

This time too, the pantomime will be ignored till a staged “resolution” is offered and instantly accepted by the Opposition and allies. The Prime Minister, emboldened by the positive market sentiments to last week’s googly, will once again disappear behind the purdah and wait for the Didis and Dadas to calm down — which they will. Our political masters have read us well. They know all it takes to buy time and get on with business as usual is to make a big noise and threaten to withdraw support. The natives are satisfied that at least someone is doing something. It’s hogwash, of course. But everybody goes to bed feeling happy. Meaningless threats and protests have a way of dulling our senses and making us believe we actually count.

So, has a new era of Didi-giri and Dada-giri dawned? Will the latest flexing of political muscle make even the smallest dent in the status quo? Or will we — stupidly and passively — stay mum even after the Rs 12,500 crore Teddy Bear’s Picnic erroneously referred to as Bharat Bandh? As always, this expensive joke is on us.

Bengal’s hidden gain from diesel adds to your pain

Udit Prasanna Mukherji, TNN | Sep 18, 2012, 07.34AM IST

KOLKATA: Don't be surprised if diesel gets dearer again in October without any hike being announced by the Centre and all other parameters — international price of crude oil, rupee-dollar exchange rate or tax rates — remaining unchanged. Bengal and some other states are enjoying an extra benefit in the form of a 20% surcharge on sales tax that adds up to the Rs 50.61 price tag of diesel here.

Bengal earns Rs 1.62 per litre of diesel as this irrecoverable surcharge, say finance departmentsources. This component alone fetches the state government a monthly revenue of Rs 45 crore.

It's called an "irrecoverable" surcharge because the state does not pass it on to oil companies. All these years, the Centre used to pay this amount to oil companies because they couldn't recover it from the states. On July 26, 2012, the Centre refused to carry the burden any longer and allowed oil firms to recover a portion of it by increasing prices. The recovery was capped at Rs 1.08 a litre for diesel. Now that diesel prices have been increased by Rs 5, this component adds up to Rs 1.62 a litre in Bengal but because of the cap, oil companies can recover only Rs 1.08. The remaining 54 paise goes to the Bengal government's coffers. However, this 54 paise may well be passed on to you as the Centre proposes to review the under-recovery every quarter.

Money-spinner

Diesel price: 50.61/lt (inclusive of central, state taxes) Diesel sold in state/month 2.8 lakh kilo litre.

State earns

Rs 264.6 cr per month Sales tax at 17% is 6.83/litre Cess is 1/litre Irrecoverable Surcharge at 20% of sales tax is 1.62/litre Total: 9.45/litre.

Why price may rise again in October

Irrecoverable surcharge/lt charged by state is 1.62 Earnings from irrecoverable surcharge per month is 45 cr Surcharge not passed on to oil cos. Till July 2012, Centre compensated the oil companies From Aug 2012, Centre says it won't share the burden, asks oil firms to recover a portion of this component by increasing prices The cap for recovery fi xed at 1.08/lt for diesel 5/lt hike in diesel price takes surcharge to 1.62/lt, but oil cos can recover only 1.08 Remaining 54p may be passed on to consumers from Oct as Centre proposes to review under-recovery every quarter .

Ministers fume at tax-cut advice

This irrecoverable surcharge component explains why fuel prices in Bengal are higher than some other states. Taking the Rs 5 hike into account , the Mamata government earns an additional Rs 285.60 crore a year as sales tax, cess and irrecoverable surcharge taken together . TheManmohan Singh government is urging state governments to give up a part of this gain to lessen the burden on the consumer. An advertisement issued by the ministry of petroleum and natural gas on Monday says: "The recent increase in diesel price will yield an additional tax revenue of Rs 8,200 crore per annum to the states. The states can, at least, forego this additional revenue to provide additional comfort to the common man."

The suggestion has drawn flak from Mamata Banerjee's cabinet colleagues . "The state government has meagre resource avenues, unlike the Centre. Now if the Centre starts dictating ways to the state government then there is no point calling this a democratic set-up ," said panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee. Transport minister Madan Mitra reacted more aggressively: "Who are they (Centre) to suggest what state governments should do? They should have issued a notification instead of giving a suggestion through advertisement . Our government swears by ma mati manush, and our leader and chief minister will take the call on this."

Though the Opposition in Bengal is at loggerheads with the Manmohan Singh government as well, Left Front chairman Biman Bose came out with a similar suggestion for the Mamata Banerjee administration . Bose pointed out that the Left Front government had slashed sales tax on diesel price in 2008-09 to give relief to the common man and urged Mamata to do the same "if she was sincere to the cause of the masses" . 

LOK SABHA AS ON 19TH SEPTEMBER 2012

Sitaram Yechury reacts to Mamata Banerjee’s charges

Reacting to  the allegation of  Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal and TMC supremo that it was Standing Committee of  civil aviation  headed by  Sitaram Yechury  MP and  CPI(M) polit bureau member recommended 51 percent  FDI in the civil aviation   Industry,  Yechury said that allegation was totally false, untrue and falsehood.

Yechury said that I am the chairman of the Standing committee civil aviation and transport, this issue never came in front of us. This sort of decision is taken by the executive. Mamta Banejee was union minister since the time of Narshima Rao government and also under NDA and UPA 2 and she must know about this that such decision is taken by the executive.

Yechury said, I also take this opportunity to point that CPI (M) had been a consistent fighter against the FDI and privatization in the civil aviation, there are many documents and records to prove it. It is only our party which had moved a statutory resolution in the parliament which is rarely moved on an issue in this sector. I as chairman of the committee can sight various reports which have been adopted unanimously recommending the government not to take this path.

We really do not know why she does not know after remaining so many years in council of ministers this fact that these decision are taken by the executive. It shows her lack of knowledge about the function of the government.

eom

New Delhi,

19th September, 2012