Category Archives: General

Come Out and Vote Today – An Advt. by Delhi Chief Electoral officer.

04 Wednesday Dec 2013

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For the last few days, advertisement by the Delhi Electoral Office have been coming one after another in the media, to ensure correct and maximum voting in the elections being held today, 4th December 2013. Various important information were advertised.
But the advertisement published today top them all. Under the heading “Come Out and Vote Today” it give a call the voters of Delhi – “Lets Make Delhi No.1 in Voter Turnout”. It has a graph of the voter turnout of the other four states, where elections have taken place as follows:
Chhattisgarh ( 70% ), M.P.(72%), Rajasthan (75%) and Mizoram (8!%).
The Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi is asking the people to be No.1 in the voter turn out meaning to have more than 81%. Well.

But will the voters in Delhi come to the expectations of the CEO? Of course, the high level propaganda with not only national leaders of all the parties and even many Chief ministers of other states having participated in the high orchestrated meetings and especially the entry of Aam Admi Party, which has made the Congress and BJP nervous, any thing can happen. If the turn out goes above 81%, it will be wonderful. It will also mean that the agitations and struggles in New Delhi during the last few years have good results.
I wish that the call of the CEO come true.

Bali WTO meeting – Will India stick to its position?

01 Sunday Dec 2013

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The WTO ministerial meeting is going to be held from 3rd to 6th December in Bali. In the meantime India had put its position clear that there will be no compromise on the food security agenda. It stated that ‘it will be firm on the core agenda of food security while pursuing a “persuasive and constructive” dialogue.’Minister Anand sharma has stated that the food security ensured in the Food Security Bill will continue.

Statement is alright. But whether India will stand to its words in the face of the strong opposition from the imperialist countries? Of course, the general elections are coming and the government seems to have no choice.

Delhi Elections on 4th December – Campaigns in full stength

01 Sunday Dec 2013

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The Delhi elections this time seems to be a fully prepared fight. Between the Congress which wants to continue its 15 years rule and BJP which wants to take over from Congress are in a life or death fight. But both of them are unsure and nervous.
The third party is the AAP – Aam Admi Paty. It has nothing to lose since this is the first time it is contesting, after the party was formed about one year back. Whatever it gets is a victory. Though it may get some seats, it is not claiming of forming the Ministry.
Delhi is really a metro, the Capital city. People from all other states of the country have a good presence here. Hence many local parties of the nearby states are also contesting. But they also do not claim much.
The Left Parties, CPI(M), CPI etc. are also contesting, but in a few seats. They are putting maximum efforts for making their presence felt with a few seats.
If one looks at the entire situation, the chance seems to be for a hung assembly – a situation which Delhi never has experienced. Either Congress or BJP got majority in the earlier elections.

Left Parties Protest against Snatching away 0f Democratic Rights

30 Saturday Nov 2013

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Thousands of people joined in the sit-in protest to condemn snatching of democratic rights of the people in the state for over past two and a half year. At the call of Left Front, the protest held at the Rani Rasmani Road near Esplanade, Kolkata which started at 1 PM and continued till 5 PM. Biman Basu, Surjya Kanta Mishra and other Left Front leaders were present in the sit-in protest.

The Left Front had organized a public meeting at the same place to propagate its agenda of protest where Biman Basu, the Chairman of the Left Front committee, while presiding over the public meeting had condemned the state sponsored attack on Democratic rights.

The sit-in and the public meeting avowed the rejection to the state government’s policy of curbing democratic space in all possible way. The protest movement took score of the age of anarchy in the educational sector that has been observed by the ruling party and its agents from the day of coming in to being of the TMC government. The growing number and magnitude of attacks on women of this state has already put the question of social security of women at high alert. Yet the state government is observing uninterrupted inaction to address or settle those alarming issues. On the contrary their agents are sometime being vocal to make women themselves feel as guilty as if they are the one who are to behave themselves to stop this social degeneration. The leaders and activists present at this protest movement condemned the killing of the student leader Sudipto Gupto in police custody and rejected the state governments fabricated trials to misinterpret the murder as an accident. The distress tale of democracy in this state has more chapters as the people of this state are compelled to witness a spine-chilling reign of terror that has been unleashed by the ruling party and accordingly supported and supplemented by the state administration. Numerous events of false cases against left activists and leaders are being charged upon every now and then where from the day this government has took office, the people have witnessed 138 of left leaders, activists got murdered and no one was arrested or faced police probe. The Saradha scam had ruined many people of their hard-earned savings yet the state government has not filed a single case against the convict of this scam. Names of ruling party leaders and even the CM have always been attached with the fraud cheat-fund company Saradha, even when a ruling party Member of the Parliament is arrested by the police administration the names of other leaders and even the CM have come up once again. It is visibly impossible for any state controlled institution to observe neutral probe of this case, hence the demand of CBI probe on the Saradha scam case echoed at this protest again and again.

The leader of the Opposition of West Bengal Assembly Surjya Kanta Mishra and other Left Front leaders were present at the sit-in protest and they addressed in the public meeting and took score of all aspects of anti-democratic installations being observed in this state.

Do not make Aadhar compulsory – CPI(M)

29 Friday Nov 2013

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Palakkad (Ker), Nov 29 CPI(M) has asked the Centre to withdraw its decision to make Aadhaar cards compulsory for providing various benefits like cooking gas subsidy to people.

A resolution adopted by the state plenum of the CPI(M) here yesterday alleged that Aadhaar had been made compulsory by the Centre without having the backing of any parliamentary legislation and in disregard to the repeated rulings of the Supreme Court on the issue.

Though a bill was introduced in Parliament on the matter, the report of the Standing Committee to which it was referred had negated the salient provisions of the bill, it said.

“The decision of oil companies to make Aadhaar-linked bank account compulsory for cooking gas subsidy is unacceptable as only 25 per cent of the country’s population had so far obtained the Aadhaar card. This means that the vast majority of the people are anxious whether they would continue
to receive the benefits for which they are entitled,” it said.

The party alleged that it is part of the government’s neo-liberal policy of phasing out subsidies and welfare payments.

“The Government’s decision to set a time-frame for linking the benefits with Aadhaar has caused serious concern among the beneficiaries of various welfare schemes,” it said.

“The Government has been pressurising the people to open bank accounts and link them to Ahdaar card. Instead of allowing the people to open zero-balance accounts, many banks are insisting they should deposit Rs 500 to Rs 1000 to open the accounts”, the Resolution said.

An Exhibition of 150 years of Western Railway

29 Friday Nov 2013

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The Railways flagged off its first train in India on 16th April 1853 from Boribunder (the present Mumbai CST Station) to Tannah (present Thane).
The Western Railway( formerly BB&CI) is celebrating its 150th anniversary and they have arranged an exhibition at Church gate station. The exhibition will be worthwhile to see. But it is only for two days. Too short.

UN Committee proposes Resolution on Women’s Rights

29 Friday Nov 2013

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The UN General Assembly Committee has proposed a land mark resolution on the Rights of Women. It strongly condemns any form to criminalise, stigmatise or curtails women’s Human Rights. This will help and inspire the fight of the women world over for their human rights.

The NSA hacked more than 50,000 computers with malware

26 Tuesday Nov 2013

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It is reported that the National Security Agency(NSA) of USA has hacked more than 55,000 computers and infected them with malware. This is according to the classified documents revealed by the whistle blower Edward Snowden, who is being haunted by the US government.
There is no limit to what the US imperialists will do to continue their top position in the world. For the US, there is nothing except their world hegemony position. Anything can be done for that purpose, murder, attacking other nations, drone attacks, economic blockade of any country etc.
There should be an end to this inhuman and barbaric aggression.

Rs. 33,80,799 crore tax and duty rebates for the rich!

25 Monday Nov 2013

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The double face of the Government has been exposed more than once. It speaks about the poor, but always does things for the rich. Once again its pro-rich, pro-corporate dark face has been exposed.
According to the media reports, during the 8 financial years from 2005-06 to 2012-13, the Central Government has foregone an Amount of Rs. 33,80,799 by way of Corporate Tax, Personal Income Tax, Excise and Custom duties which was to be recovered from the corporates etc. may be numbering a few lakhs altogether. But the subsidy etc. given to the crores of common people in the country is only about half or less than that. The break-up of the rebates etc. to the rich and corporates are given below:
Corporate Tax Rebate : Rs. 4,74,346 crore
Personal Income Tax : Rs. 2,71,512 crore
Excise Duty : Rs.11,45,337 crore
Customs Duty : Rs.14,89,604 crore
Total : Rs.33,80,799 crore

This government is not the government of poor and toiling people, but the government of the crorepatis.

India Should not succumb to unjust pressure of WTO on Food Subsidy – CPI(M)

24 Sunday Nov 2013

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New Delhi, Nov 24 Expressing concern over WTO’s permissible food subsidy limit norms, CPI(M) today said India should not give in to the “unjust pressure” of the world body and western powers and continue to press for “fundamental changes” in its rules at the next meet in Bali in December.

As per the WTO norms, a developing nation can provide food subsidy of up to 10 per cent of the total farm output.

While sources have indicated India is likely to agree for a four-year “peace clause”, which will provide immunity against penalty for breaching the food subsidy cap, the party’s polit bureau in a statement today said the clause should be rejected by India.

“The polit bureau demands that India should not give in to this unjust pressure from the WTO secretariat and the EU and the US and continue to press for fundamental changes in the WTO rules so that food subsidy programme are not designated as illegal,” it said.

It said the WTO rules will not only jeopardise present efforts in India to ensure food security for millions of hungry people, but will also make it impossible to further strengthen food security measures.

The G-33 nations, a group of emerging countries including India, are demanding amendment in the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) in order to implement the food security plan without attracting any penalty even after breaching the minimum subsidy cap.

The 9th WTO Ministerial Conference will be held in Bali from December 3-6.

Talking to reporters yesterday, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma had said the government would endeavour to work out a solution in the Bali meet to protect interest of the country’s farmers and poor.

Sharma said India has raised the fundamental issue pertaining to public stock holding and domestic food security programme and underscored that this is of critical importance for India, especially in the backdrop of the National Food Security Act.

Developed countries like the US and Canada have raised concerns over India’s food security legislation at the WTO.

They have asked India to explain the effect of the law on global stocks and commodity prices. (PTI)