The Parliament starts its budget session today which may continue up to 22nd May. It is a most important session, since the Annual Budget as also Railway Budget are presented in this session and adopted after serious discussion. A lot of questions will be raised by the Members, which it is the responsibility of the concerned Ministers to reply.

In the present session, there are a lot of important issues that will be raised in the Parliament by the opposition parties. Corruption charges, whether 2G scam, CWG scam, Adarsh scam, Antrix-Dewas deal or such other scams will naturally raised by the opposition. Blackmoney put in foreign banks is another issue. The government, despite getting the list of such hoarders from the foreign banks, is not prepared to release the details to the public, for reasons well known to them. There will be strong protest if the government insists on putting the PFRDA and FDI in multi-retail for adoption. The proposal for aggressive disinvestment of PSU shares will be strongly opposed by the Left and likeminded parties.

There will be an echo of the demands of the 28th February strike organised by all the central trade unions which was one of the biggest strikes in the country so far. The fluid political situation after the debacle of the Congress in the UP assembly elections will certainly have its shadow in this session which may create new political equations.

Anyhow, the budget session will be a stormy session, no doubt about it.

Caracas (Venezuela), Mar 11 : Thousands of supporters of Venezuela President Hugo Chavez held demonstrations to show support for their leader while he recovers from cancer surgery in Cuba. Demonstrators danced, beat drums and waved flags as they marched through the Venezuelan capital yesterday. Crowds of Chavez supporters also held simultaneous rallies in other cities across the country. In messages posted on Chavez’s Twitter account, the president cheered on the demonstrators. One message said, “Let’s go boys! Building the socialist homeland!” Another proclaimed, “We will live and we will win!” The president has said a February 26 surgery in Cuba removed a tumor from the same location in the pelvic region where another tumor was removed in June. Leaders of Chavez’s socialist party spoke to the crowds, expressing optimism that Chavez will fully recover and win re-election in October. They sought to counter any speculation that Chavez’s health might get in the way of his presidential bid. Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami said Chavez’s political movement is firmly unified in “one single bloc and one single current.” He denounced government opponents as “fascists.” “We have one single plan … Hugo Chavez is our candidate!” El Aissami said at a rally in western Trujillo state. National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello, another longtime ally of the president, led the crowd in chants of “Ooh-ah! Chavez isn’t going away!” “El Comandante is with us!” Cabello said. “There is no Plan B. … El Comandante will come and will be the candidate of the revolution!” At a rally in Caracas, Vice President Elias Jaua read aloud a message from Chavez that also appeared on Twitter, in which the president said he had a long conversation with Fidel Castro on Friday. “I told him about the youth march today, and he asked me to tell you how much he admires you. Viva Fidel!”

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met in New Delhi on March 10-11, 2012. It has issued the following statement: (Extracts)

The Polit Bureau took stock of the current political situation. The poor performance of the Congress Party in the recent state assembly elections indicates the people’s discontent about the policies of the UPA Government at the Centre especially its failure to curb price rise and the high-level corruption. In such a situation, the Manmohan Singh government should stop adopting measures which are detrimental to the interests of the people and the country.

The people of the country are looking urgently for relief and the government should not adopt measures in the forthcoming Union Budget which would further burden the people. It should give up its efforts to allow FDI in multibrand retail trade. It should halt the disinvestment of shares in the public sector enterprises; the bungling in the disinvestment of ONGC shares underlines the folly of this approach.

The government should ensure that the Lokpal legislation is suitably amended and adopted in parliament so that an effective Lokpal is set up. The Food Security Bill should also be so amended to provide for a universal public distribution system and that which does not encroach on the rights of the states.

February 28 General Strike

The Polit Bureau congratulated the central trade unions and the working class on the success of the February 28 general strike. This strike call given by all the central trade unions unitedly is a significant protest action by the workers and employees of all industrial and services sectors. The widespread response to this strike all over the country indicates the mood of rising opposition to the neo-liberal policies of the UPA government. The CPI(M) calls upon all the class and mass organisations to intensify the struggles and the movements of the working people in defence of their rights and livelihood.

Defence of Federalism

The Polit Bureau supported the stand taken by many chief ministers against certain provisions of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) which overrides the states jurisdiction in policing, making arrests etc. Similarly, some of the state governments have correctly come out against the proposed amendment in the Railway Protection Force Act which would confer the powers of state police offices to the RPF which is violative of the constitutional division of powers between the centre and the states.

The assertion of the federal principle against the growing encroachment of the centre on states rights is a positive trend. The CPI(M) calls upon all democratic political forces to come to a broad understanding on the need to restructure centre-state relations.

2G Spectrum Judgment

The Polit Bureau strongly criticized the UPA government for filing a review petition against the Supreme Court judgment which struck down the allocation of 2G licences to 122 companies on the first come, first served basis. The historic judgment of the Court had laid down correct guidelines about allocation of scarce natural resources through the auction route or based on market evaluations.

Instead of accepting this imminently reasonable verdict, the Manmohan Singh government is seeking a review of this decision. Further it is contemplating a presidential reference to the Supreme Court on the subject. All this shows how the government is bent upon protecting vested interests and those who have indulged in wrong doing. The government wants to retain discretionary powers in the hands of the executive in the name of non-encroachment by the judiciary on the policy making powers of the executive. The stance adopted further exposes the complicity of the Manmohan Singh government in the 2G spectrum allocation. The defence put up by the government for the first come, first served policy shows that it was not just A Raja but the then finance minister and the prime minister who are Also responsible for allowing the loot of scare spectrum resources.

West Bengal Attacks

The Polit Bureau strongly condemned the continuing attacks and violence against the CPI(M) and the Left Front workers and supporters in West Bengal. The gruesome murders of CPI(M) leaders Pradip Tah and Kamal Gayen in Bardhaman district during the campaign for the February 28 general strike shows how Trinamul goons can indulge in violence with impunity. During the February 28 strike too many attacks were launched on workers in different parts of the state. The TMC-led government is condoning and justifying such attacks. Despite this violence people are coming out asserting their rights. The massive mobilisation seen at the Brigade rally at the conclusion of the state conference of the CPI(M) is a manifestation of this resistance.

Japanese praying for their departed relations during the first anniversary of the Fukushima Disaster

One year has passed after the killer earthquake and tsunami which resulted in the death of more than 19,000 people,  and destroying entire towns  in Japan resulting in shifting of lakhs of people to makeshift camps.  This was followed by the  disaster in the Fukushima Nuclear plant. It is not known how many people died, suffering from radiation etc. The information is kept secret in order to continue with nuclear tests.

The entire people of Japan observed silence and prayed today in homage to all those perished on that day. The people of the world also pays homage. I also pay homage to those who departed in the disaster and convey sympathy and condolences to the bereaved.

Nuclear power is to be used for the benefit of the society and  not for the destruction of the world by producing more and more nuclear weapons. But the super powers are so interested in keeping their military power as also making big profits from the nuclear business. People from all countries should demand strongly to put an end to the continuation of nuclear armaments. All the nuclear arms already produced should be destroyed.