WEST BENGAL: Party Reviews Govt Work And Organisational Matters

Changes To Be Made In Ministry

KOLKATA,2nd AUGUST: THE CPI(M) West Bengal state committee at its two day meeting on August 1-2, 2009 decided to reshuffle and re-allot some of the ministries held by CPI(M) members in the state cabinet. The meeting also discussed key organisational issues and the work of the Left Front government. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee drew the conclusions from the discussions in the meeting on the working of the state government while Party state secretary Biman Basu drew the conclusions from the discussions regarding the Party’s organisational matters.

Post the state committee decision, the reallocated ministries in the state cabinet would be as follows: Suryakanta Misra – Health; Anisur Rahman – Panchayat and Rural Development; Narayan Biswas – Animal Husbandry; Anadi Sahoo – Labour; Mrinal Banerjee – Power; Sailen Sarkar – Environment; and Rabilal Maitra – Law and Parliamentary Affairs.

ISSUES PERTAINING TO LF GOVT’S WORKING

The state committee noted that the Left Front government has earned success in many of its endeavours. But it stressed that alongside these successes, the government's drawbacks should not be lost sight of. It advised that after reviewing the work from a class angle, work should be prioritised and taken up at a brisk pace. The administration should be more pro-people in attitude, observed the state committee. There is also a need to tone up the administration and bring enhanced clarity within the administration. Works pertaining to land distribution, agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, pisciculture, irrigation, provision of agricultural loans, higher quality seeds, fertilisers, and cooperative departments should receive more attention. The successes in these aspects should be further improved upon. Irrigation facilities in the state should be extended more widely and it should be ensured that poor farmers receive loans more easily and on easier terms, the state committee observed.

The committee noted that on the whole in the state, capital investment for industrialisation is steadily increasing. It stressed that in the drive for industrialisation efforts should be made to attract investments in the manufacturing sector, including small and medium industries in the state. More definite policies on land acquisition and rehabilitation should be adopted by the government. Work is going on for setting up land banks in the state, leaving aside fertile lands of the state. Efforts should also be undertaken to increase power generation in the state. Proper development of Self Help Groups and generation of new employment in the state should receive priority.

There should be enhanced clarity on preparation of proper and dependable BPL lists, taking care to see that every poor person in the state is included in it. All citizens of the state should have ration cards. The issue of ration cards and Antyodaya scheme should be given priority by the government. The process of obtaining bank loans should be simplified and marketing endeavours should be increased. Work programmes should be prioritised amongst schedule castes and tribes, OBCs, religious minorities, and refugees. The scope of work under NREGA should be further enhanced. Work on rural electrification should be speeded up. Construction of houses for both urban and rural poor and for religious minorities should be beefed up. Care should be taken to see that every child goes to school. The quality of education should improve and more teachers should be appointed. Greater efforts are needed for proper implementation of West Bengal government’s policies pertaining to workers of closed industrial units and unorganised sector workers.

PARTY ORGANISATION

Rectification effort within the Party is a continual process. However, there is a lag in doing this work with emphasis and there is a need to pay more attention to this aspect. Proper action should be taken against undesirable economic activities. Efforts should be made to eradicate inactivity of the Party members, wherever it is found. Party members should be well informed about our ideology. Activists who have emerged from movement and struggles should be enlisted as Party members. This enrollment work should be properly directed. The policy of democratic centralism should be correctly applied to implement programmes and to combat the attacks from the ruling class.

Anti-communists and anti-Leftist forces, ranging from the extreme right to the extreme Left, have formed a reactionary alliance in the state. The continuous terror being unleashed by the Trinamul Congress and this 'axis of evil' can be thwarted only by building up people’s solidarity. Their designs of anarchy and terror can be tackled in this manner alone. It has also been observed that Party organisations at all levels should be bolstered to thwart the conspiracies of the national and foreign reactionary forces against the advance post of the country’s Left movement. Alongside with it, the aspirations of the masses should be channelised into a circle of movement and struggles.

In the context of the present political situation, relatively younger generation workers should be entrusted with more responsibilities. More and more eligible workers coming from working class, schedule castes, tribals and religious minorities background should be entrusted with responsibilities. Efforts should be made to induct more women into the Party and to entrust them with responsibilities. The fact that the CPI(M) is a party of the working class should be reflected within the Party structure. Inner party struggle should continue to uphold this identity of the Party.

The state committee has also observed that the axis of political evil forces in the state, which wants to disrupt the daily chores of the common man and to stall developmental projects, cannot be deemed capable of taking up pro-people work in the state. Though it is true that the mass support of the Left Front has been reduced for the time being, the Party and the Left Front are capable of winning over the minds of the common people of the state through movement and struggles, and by building up more intense relationship with the common people.

The Party state committee has also decided to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the historic food movement in the state in 1959 through various programmes on August 31.