The Central Committee of the CPI(M) has decided that the Party Congress of the CPI(M) will be held at Calicut (Kerala) from 4th to 9th April 2012.
This Party Congress is going to be very important in planning the strategy and tactics of the party in the present situation when the party has lost both in Kerala and W.Bengal Assemble elctions. In fact, the election results is Kerala though could not get majority, was actually a victory where the LDF has lost only with a wafer thin majority. W.Bengalsituation is some what different with the intensified attack on the CPI(M) and Left cadres increasing every day.
Party Congress will certainly discuss all these issues and take suitable decisions.

It seems that almost all the top politicians of the ruling party as well as the main opposition party are on one way or other connected with scams.
The latest is the high-profile Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit. The CAG has lambasted her role and involvement in the works and contracts awarded to the contractors and agencies at the time of the CWG. Anybody who has seen the poor quality of the works, mostly unfinished also, will surely certify that almost everything was amiss. But whether the Centre will take any action against the Delhi CM. Definitely not, unless it is pressurised and cornered as in the issue of 2G scam. Let us wait and see.

More than 10 lakh Bank workers as per the call of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) went on complete strike today, 5th August paralysing the bank trasactions through out the country. Most of the PSU banks were closed with complete absence of workers.
The strike was called by the United Forum to protest against the anti-PSU policy of the government, government’s decision to allow big business to start their own banks and Khandewal Committee report which is agianst the interest of the PSU Banks and their workers.
I congratulate the Bank workers for their glorious strike to defend the PSU Banks from the attack of the govenment.

The Lok Pal Bill presented to the Lok Sabha by the Government is very weak in its application, meagre punishments etc. The Prime Minister is kept away from the purview of the same. Why this weak and toothless Bill?
In a nut shell, the ruling class, the top politicians, bureaucrats, big business, MNCs – nobody wants a strong bill. It is through bribes and corruption that majority of these sections are benefitted. That is why a demand has been made by a Secretary of the government that paying bribe should not be treated a crime. In such a situation, these affluent sections will demand tomorrow that even corruption should not be made a crime.
Even the CAG and Supreme Court are criticised by these sections for exposing corruption and speaking against it.
In such a situation why the Government will bring a strong Lok Pal Bill. The present one is only to put dust in the eyes of the common people.
All of us have to joint together to expose corruption and the guilty to be punished.

August 6th, 1945 will always be remembered as a Black Day on which thousands of people were murdered and maimed for their lives by the inhuman, horrific and cruel bombing of Hiroshima (Japan) by the United States Air force. The Japan army has been defeated and almost surrendered in the II World War (1942-45). But America had their own plans. It wanted to test the atom bomb and also to show and warn the world nations that they are the mightiest country. It is stated, that in addition to the thousands who died on the spot, there were more than one lakh people who had been affected by the radiation and still continues to suffer various ailments.
Again on 9th August 1945, after three days of the dropping of the first atom bomb, America dropped another atom bomb on the city of Nagasaki with the same loss of human lives and misery to many more.
A memorial to all those who lost their lives and suffered is erected in Hiroshima called Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. A Childrens Peace Monument is also erected there. Thousands of people from all over the world meet there for the cause of peace and to pay homage to those who lost their lives and who are still suffering.
The World Peace Movement has to be strengthened to avoid another Hiroshima / Nagasaki.

The Joint Action Committee of BSNL Unions /Associations met Shri R.Chandrasekhar, Secretary, DOT and discussed about imo[portant issues facing the BSNL and its workers. A detailed note on the discussion is placed in the Union websit: http://www.bsnleuchq.com

The Central Trade Unions have been continuously demanding that the present condition that there should be at least 20 workers in a company to introduce Employees Provident should be reduced to less number of workers.
Now Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge has stated in the Parliament during question hour that the government is proposing to extend the EPF to all companies having 10 or more workers.
The workers will certainly welcome this statement. But at the same time it should not be kept as a proposal and early decision should be taken and orders issued.

The issue of the loss and connected matters were raised in the Lok Sabha during the question hour on 3rd August. Intervening in the matter Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh assured that the salary of the Air India employees will be paid and the government will find out the ways and means for the same.
To another question on the loss of Air India it was replied that the loss for the financial year 2011-12 is expected to be to the tune of Rs. 6,994 crore.
If the government has taken remedial measures at the right time and had not discriminated against Air India to favour the private companies, the present difficult situation would not have come. It is the full responsibility of the government to revive Air India and restore its earlier glorious position.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry has criticised the government policy with regard to the revival plans of the ailing PSUs with specific mention of the revival of Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) units.
THe Committee in its report states that the commitment of the government “to strengthen public enterprises does not sound convincing the way it is treating the revival plan of the Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) group of companies. …the slow pace with which the government tries to consider the revival plans is indicative of its mindset in making our public sector undertakings viable from the point of view of business proposition”.
This mindset of the government is not only in connection with the revival of HMT but also of the entire PSUs. We have not forgotten the infamous sentence of the NDA government that “Business is not the business of the government”. The UPA II government is agressively implementing this policy of the NDA government.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas is stated to have recommended that those who are having an income of more than six lakhs in a year need not be given cooking gas with subsidy.
The present price for cooking gas (LPG) par cylinder is Rs.395.00 in Delhi. The subsidy is stated to be Rs.247 and as such the cost of the gas cylinder comes to Rs. 646. The Standing committee wants that those who are having earning more than 6 lakhs a year need not be given this subsidy.
At the same time there is another proposal by the government that nobody will be given more than 4 cylinders on subsidy.
Both the recommendations / proposals have not been finally decided. But it is clear that the government is on the way to curtail the present subsidy on the cooking gas.