Liberation February 2009

India observed her 62rd year of independence with a solemn Prime Ministerial pronouncement: not a single Indian citizen would be allowed to go hungry. The Premier was immediately contradicted and lampooned by fresh reports of starvation deaths (from Jehanabad) and farmers' suicides (from AP). More ominously, we know that for every starvation death we have at least a thousand men, women and children eking out a miserable existence on one or half-a-meal a day. It is evident that 62 years of independence have not given us freedom from either extreme hunger, which results in starvation deaths and grabs headlines, or from endemic hunger, the silent killer which slowly slaughters tens of thousands across the....Full text

True to its character, the Chhattisgarh Government on July 8 banned Habib Tanvir’s internationally reputed play Charandas Chor, which had been running since 1974. This play, based on a Rajasthani folk tale, was written by Vijaydan Detha, and was initially called Phitrati Chor. Habib Tanvir, in the process of adapting the play to suit the Chhattisgarhi language....Full text

Swine Flu, technically a variety of flu caused by the H1N1 virus, is the latest of epidemics (following close on the heels of avian flu) to have affected people all over the globe. The virus has now spread to 74 countries, including India, Australia, the UK, Spain, Japan and Chile, among others. In India alone, more than 2200 cases of swine flu have officially been identified, and the death toll from the virus is now around 30......Full text

he spectre of one of the worst ever drought situations looms large over the country. Central India suffered a massive 93% deficiency in rainfall in the first week of August, while the North-West remained at 76% below the long-term average. This monsoon, the rain deficit in Punjab, the granary of India, varies from 35% to as high as 87% depending on places. In Bihar, the deficiency varies between 76% and 88%......Full text

n a shocking development, three people died of hunger in as many days (between 10-12 August) in Ratu Bigaha village under Paraman panchayat of Ghoshi block in Jahanabad district: Ram Chalitar Dom, Kunti Devi and Janardan Mahato. A fact finding team of CPI (ML) leaders met the family of victims on 14 August. There are 112 families belonging to the oppressed classes. 28 families belong to ‘mahadalit’ category and out of this 25 families are mushahar families.....Full text

The Lok Sabha passed the farcical Right to Education Bill on 4 August, ignoring all the protests by educationists and a cross-section of people that a better draft bill be prepared, put to debate and then placed in the Parliament. In a thinly attended session, the controversial bill was passed under a voice vote. As this is the first move of the 100 day agenda of UPA, which intends to hand over our education system to the private players, the day-long public hearing was held in Delhi by AISA and All India Forum for Right to Education (AIFRTE) to indicate that protest will follow UPA’s agendas....Full text

Few words have the propensity of slipping so easily, unquestioned, into public consciousness as the term ‘encounter’. Part of public discourse now, it has come to mean elimination of gangsters, mafia, insurgents, naxals, terrorists, by the police and security forces. Celebrated in popular culture and media as the only—if extra judicial—means available to the security forces to combat crime and anti-nationals in a largely uneven fight. Public debates over such extra judicial killings then tend to polarise over whether the encounter was ‘fake’ or genuine—the genuineness of the encounter being proved by the ‘guilt’ of the killed party. If it can be safely established that the person killed belonged to any of the categories mentioned above,...Full text

"Setback is necessary", said comrade Charu Mazumdar in late 1971 quoting Mao Zedong, "because it demolishes the sense of easy victory and helps us realise what is right and what is wrong". Our party was then facing a setback that soon turned out to be total and devastating. Following the recent partial (electoral) setback, the party CC in its call of 28 July 2009 has re-invoked this revolutionary spirit of turning a bad thing into a good thing and urged upon all of us to plug the loopholes in our work style and organisation so as to prepare the party for a new breakthrough in the world of mass struggles. For this we need to do many things over a period of time. First and foremost, we must re-emphasise and re-inculcate the basic principles of communist party organisation and the revolutionary party culture that constitute a great legacy of CPI (ML)....Full text

s decided by the Central Committee, most states held cadre meetings or conventions between July 28 and August 10. The July 28 CC call served as the basic approach paper for all these conventions, which generally involved members of state committees/leading teams as well as district committees/leading teams. In Bihar block committee members were also included....Full text

March to Parliament against Betrayal on Women’s Bill

The All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) held a March to Parliament on August 3 to demand that the 33% Women’s Reservation Bill be passed. Thousands of women from all over the country marched from Ramlila Maidan with colourful banners and placards, and raising slogans asking, “President Patil’s speech promised Women’s Bill in 100 days – Why the broken promise?” The March reached Parliament Street where a mass meeting was held. The March also protested against the pitifully inadequate allocation for women in the Budget, and against steep price rise, and against repression and rape in Shopian, Lalgarh, Bastar, Punjab and other places. Women from Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam (Karbi Anglong), Delhi and other states participated in the March....Full text

(Excerpts from a Campaign folder issued by AICCTU for its All-India Campaign, 9-31 August 2009. AICCTU launched the campaign against the UPA Government’s anti-worker agenda from August 9, Quit India Day.)

The UPA Government led by the Congress has taken its return to power as a license for aggressive and untrammelled implementation of pro-rich, pro-corporate policies. From the President’s speech to the hike in fuel prices to the economic survey and the Budget – all the Government’s moves till now expose its intention of serving the corporate houses and withdrawing from its own social responsibilities. Disinvestment in PSUs and hire and fire policies are also on the UPA’s agenda...Full text

The Nationwide campaign undertaken by AICCTU was flagged off on 9 August in most states. Some of highlights of the campaign until we go to press (21 August) are below.

In Bihar the AICCTU and Bihar State Non-Gazetted Employees Confederation (Gope faction) have jointly undertaken this campaign. The campaign was flagged off with a joint rally of workers and employees on 9 August in Patna. The rally reached R-Block where it merged with the 48-hour long hunger strike and mass dharna organised by CPI(ML). On 8 August, a state-level cadre convention was organised at MLA Club in Patna to discuss and chart out ways to take the campaign to maximum number of workers and employees of Bihar. More than 150 delegates from 25 districts of Bihar participated in the Convention...Full text

For the past two years in Coimbatore, workers of PRICOL, a leading auto components manufacturing factory supplying components to most leading auto majors, have been engaged in a protracted struggle against violation of labour laws by the management. Finally at the end of June 2009, they won a victory, forcing the Government to pass orders under Section 10 B of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947 against violations of labour laws...Full text

ountries of Latin America are up in arms against the US decision to open seven military bases in Columbia (a move taken on the pretext of combating narcotics trade). Apart from this, the US is working towards their army, navy and air force getting a military presence in this region by the end of this year. But that’s not all - after a gap of 59 years the US Fourth Fleet is also being revived to cover South America. In just funds, the Columbia Plan has received $10 billion and another $40 billion is in the pipeline....Full text

cuador is a country of 14 million people located in the western part of South America. It has many nationalities including the dominant nationality of mestizos (mixed). There are 17 other nationalities in Ecuador with the blacks and indigenous people (such as Quechua and Shuar) considered as oppressed people....Full text

The world of Hindustani classical music lost one of its brightest jewels recently when Gangubai Hanagal, doyenne of the Kirana Gharana, passed away in Hubli, Karnataka at the age of 97. Gangubai’s her journey in life was beset by the hurdles of poverty and caste and gender discrimination. Born in the boatman caste to a devadasi mother (an extremely talented Carnatic musician herself), Gangu was drawn to Hindustani music from early childhood. There is a particular poignancy to the image of the little girl listening with fascination at tea shops and outside people’s homes to catch the snatches of music on gramophone records...Full text