RED SALUTE COMRADE SHIBDAS GHOSH

(5th August 1923 - 5th August 1976)

"What does happen when a change of government is brought about... without a radical change of the state structure? if honest men come into government that creates further complications because common people have faith in them. if they are confused despite being honest and cannot take to the path of revolution, they have no other options but to objectively act as lackeys of the capitalist class. It is the capitalist system which they have to reform and further consolidate, yet the grievances of people subside for some time at least because people trust them. Hence, the bourgeois rule, the capitalist rule only gets the opportunity to further consolidate itself and built up a firm foundation during the regime of such honest' administrators."

 ( Independence on 15th August and problem of Emancipation of people. SW, Vol.III, p. 46 - 47)

Maruti Suzuki Workers’ Strike

The 13 day strike of over 2000 workers in the Maruti Suzuki India’s (MSI) Manesar plant in Gurgoan (Haryana), close to the national capital Delhi, in the first weeks of June is an important sign of ascendancy of the working class militancy in the region.Anand Kumar, Bangalore, New Socialist Alternative (CWI India)
This strike comes in the wake of the victory of the Gorakhpur Yarn workers (Uttar Pradesh) and a partial victory of the Air India pilots earlier. While the result of the Maruti workers strike cannot really be termed a victory for the workers as the media, management, government and (most disgustingly by the) central trade unions proclaim, it nevertheless comes at an important juncture of high price rises and a not so bright economic outlook for the country.

The movement of 108 ambulance workers

The movement of 108 ambulance workers to submit petition to the district collectors in Tamilnadu,  in reply collector warns not to take any action against the workers those who given petition...

EMRI 108 ambulance workers (affiliated to COITU) those who are in shifts hoisted the movement of submitting petition to the district collectors of Madurai, Theni, Virudhunagar, Coimbatore, Cuddalore and Dharmapuri. The collectors received the petition and handled the claims of the petition direct under themselves without posting it to the appropriate departments. Especially the collectors of Virudhunagar and Coimbatore warned the administrations should not retaliate against the workers who have given the petition which was quite confident to the workers in the other district. The workers haven’t given petition in the rest of the district has planned to do the same in the following days.

GREAT SUCCESS FOR THE 108 AMBULANCE WORKERS STRIKE IN NAGERCOIL

The Workers of 108 Ambulance from Nagercoil filed a petition against the autocratic approach of their district management to the collector of Kanyakumari District. By dismissing a 108 ambulance Worker named Babu, the management took their revenge against the Workers. On account of this incident all the Workers of 108 Ambulance from Nagercoil waged a collective struggle against the management in the pursuit of District Collector on 04/07/2011.

Because of this strike the services of 108 Ambulance was stalled in entire District of Kanyakumari on 04/07/2011. Sensing this development with fear, the District management reinstated that  worker as well as it called on the workers for further talks on their justifiable issues. This development creates a great encouragement among the workers of 108 ambulance in entire Tamilnadu.

Comrade. Mahilchi Communist Workers Platform(CWP) and Central Organization Indian Trade Unions(COITU) successfully lead this struggle in front with the true participation of all the workers of 108 ambulance, Nagercoil.  CWP and COITU greet their wishes to the workers of 108 ambulance union (Affiliated with COITU) who waged a stubborn collective struggle. CWP and COITU heartily greet their thanks to the workers of 108 ambulance of entire Tamilnadu who supported this struggle with their great support and density.    

Athens demonstrators gather ahead of austerity bill vote

Protesters were congregating in the Greek capital's Syntagma Square early Wednesday to blockade the parliament building in an attempt to prevent access by lawmakers.Hundreds of police dressed in riot gear were lining up around the building and had blocked off roads ahead of what was expected to be another day of chaotic protests. 

General strike called for June 28-29

According to the General Confederation of Workers of Greece (GSEE) and the civil servants' umbrella federation Adedy, the 48-hour strike is an escalation of their recent industrial action comprising 24-hour nationwide strikes in protest of the medium-term programme. 

A main demonstration will be held on Tuesday, June 28, at the Pedion tou Areos park in central Athens at 11am, while on Wednesday another demonstration will be held in downtown Klafthmonos Square. 

Petrol price hike unwarranted

The increase is unwarranted, particularly because international prices of oil had shown a declining trend in recent weeks. This is indeed a post-election gift to people from the UPA government,

Maruti strike may spread to Hero Honda, HMSI and Rico Auto

The strike at Maruti Suzuki India's plant is threatening to spread to the Gurgaon-Manesar belt, with a panel of workers of various firms in the region warning that a similar stir could hit others unless demands of their agitating colleagues' at India's largest carmaker are met.Over 1,000 workers from different companies in the Gurgaon-Manesar industrial belt have gathered at the gate of Maruti Suzuki India's (MSI) plant to stage a 'satyagraha' in support of the ongoing strike.
 

They are backing the demand for reinstatement of the 11 sacked employees of MSI and also recognise the newly formed union at MSI's plant here. 

Also read "If the issues are not  resolved immediately, then a similar strike can happen in other factories in the Gurgaon-Manesar industrial belt," AITUC Gurgaon District Secretary Harjeet Grover, who is also the General Secretary of HMSI Employees Union said.

Villagers resist Posco land acquisition drive

 The land acquisition process by the Orissa government for the Posco project in the Dhinkia gram panchayat of Jagatsinghpur district did not make any headway on Saturday following resistance by members of a five-party delegation and villagers.The gram panchayat remained a hostile region for the district administration that had in the past fortnight stepped up the land acquisition process for the steel plant.
With children and women at the forefront, villagers blocked the land acquisition teams for the second consecutive day, though the administration declared their assembly unlawful.

For five hours on Friday, women and children braved the oppressive sun and did not let the teams backed by scores of police personnel to enter the village.

Spain’s unemployment crisis has precipitated sizable protests in Madrid, Barcelona, and Bilbao:

Hundreds of young Spaniards camped out in Madrid and other cities on Saturday to protest against high unemployment and austerity, defying a ban on demonstrations in the run up to local elections.

The number of protesters, dubbed “los indignados” (the indignant), was expected to swell by the evening, after 25,000 people crammed into Madrid’s main plaza on Friday night.Protesters were also gathered in Barcelona, Valencia, Sevilla, Bilbao and other cities, as they have been all week, urging people not to vote for Spain’s two main parties, the ruling Socialists or the center-right opposition Popular Party in Sunday’s local elections.

Hazare on fast for 'second freedom struggle'

Taking on the government, civil rights activist Anna Hazare on Wednesday went on a day-long fast at Rajghat, declaring that his agitation against corruption was the “second freedom struggle” and threatened another hunger strike from August 16 if Lokpal Bill is not passed by then.

He accused the government of putting “hurdles” in the drafting of Lokpal Bill and trying to defame the civil society members of the joint panel, such as Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, Santosh Hegde and Arvind Kejriwal through a “discreet” campaign.

Mr. Hazare, joined by his associates and a few thousand supporters, went on the hunger strike to protest the police crackdown on Baba Ramdev’s supporters during their agitation against corruption here on Saturday night, which he termed as a “blot on humanity” and attempt to “stifle democracy“.

After paying floral tributes at Mahatma Gandhi’s samadhi, he reached the protest site at around 10.20 am to a rousing welcome from supporters who assembled there amid heavy police presence.

CA gets three-month extension

PM Khanal to step down for national govt , Integration within three months 

After hectic parleys late into Saturday night and wee hours of Sunday, the political parties struck a five-point deal, paving the way for a three-month extension of the Constituent Assembly.

According to the pact signed by top three leaders of the three major parties the Constituent Assembly term will be extended by three months; fundamentals of the peace process will be readied within three months; the first draft of the new constitution will be prepared within three months; the Prime Minister will quit to pave the way for formation of a national consensus government; and the Nepal Army will be developed as an inclusive institution by implementing the past agreements signed with Madhesi Morcha. However, it wasn't clear when the Prime Minister's resignation would come.

Present Situation and Historical Task of the Proletariat - Nepal

                                                               - UNIFIED COMMUNIST PARTY OF NEPAL (MAOIST)

Today, our great and glorious party, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), has arrived at a serious and extraordinary juncture of possibilities and challenges. 

The way how people's revolution, in the external struggle, is advancing amid immense possibility of victory and serious danger of defeat, in the same manner, party's internal life, as a reflection of the former, also lies in the midst of potentiality of advance and danger of anarchism and chaos as well. The height to which we can create new unity, voluntary discipline, self-confidence and vigour by means of a correct line, strategy, tactic, plan and programme to ensure as far as possible the decisive victory of revolution in this complex crossroads of class struggle, to that level will we be able to make victorious the revolution and party by safeguarding them from the danger of defeat and anarchism. In order to develop that kind of line and plan, we, by abandoning all kinds of subjective prejudices, must be able to have objective estimation of the situation and balance of class force based on the universal theories of MLM. The plan and programme prepared on the basis of objective analysis will enable our party to lead the decisive victory of revolution. Expressing high regard and esteem to the entire known and unknown martyrs of Nepalese people's revolution including those of ten years of people's war and admiring the entire disappeared, injured fighters and their family members, this plenum of the central committee will be able to bring about a new dynamism in our party.

BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY - Conflicting signals

                                                                                                                  V. VENKATESAN

The Supreme Court judgment dismissing the curative petitions against its verdict in the Bhopal gas criminal case leaves observers nonplussed.

IN BHOPAL ON May 11, survivors of the gas tragedy taking out a rally in protest against the Supreme Court's latest verdict.

ON May 11, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court unanimously delivered a judgment that, perhaps, should never be considered a precedent. The Bench, comprising Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia and Justices Altamas Kabir, R.V. Raveendran, B. Sudershan Reddy and Aftab Alam, held that a judgment delivered by the Supreme Court could not bind a lower court and that no decision by any court, including the Supreme Court, could be read in a manner as to nullify the express provisions of an Act or the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

The judgment, according to several experts, is deeply flawed. The Bench delivered the judgment while dismissing curative petitions filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and others for recalling and setting aside the Supreme Court's judgment in Keshub Mahindra vs State of Madhya Pradesh, delivered on September 13, 1996. In Keshub Mahindra, a two-judge Bench, comprising Justice A. Ahmadi and Justice S. Majmudar, had quashed the charge of culpable homicide under Section 304 (Part II) of the Indian Penal Code, framed by the sessions court, against nine Indian accused in the Bhopal gas disaster criminal case and had directed the trial court to frame charges against them under Section 304-A, IPC.

The three foreign accused – the then chief of the Union Carbide Corporation, Warren Anderson; UCC; and Union Carbide Eastern Inc. – were absconding and did not, like the Indian accused, appeal against the charge of culpable homicide framed by the trial court. The Madhya Pradesh High Court had upheld the charge of culpable homicide against the accused before they went in appeal in the Supreme Court.

Under Section 304 (Part II) of the IPC, whoever commits culpable homicide not amounting to murder shall be punished with imprisonment, which may extend to 10 years, or with fine or with both if the act is done with the knowledge that it is likely to cause death. Section 304-A, on the other hand, seeks to punish those causing the death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide with imprisonment for a term that may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

Trial by fire

                                                                                                                                  V. VENKATESAN
                                                                                                                                     in New Delhi

 As the joint drafting committee begins work on the Lokpal Bill, its civil society members face challenges from various quarters.

 Social activists and civil society members of the Lokpal Bill drafting committee, (from left) Kiran Bedi, Swami Agnivesh, Anna Hazare, Prashant Bhushan, Shanti Bhushan, Justice Santosh Hegde and Arvind Kejriwal, after a meeting in New Delhi on April 23. 

AS the leader of the five-member civil society group within the 10-member joint drafting committee to prepare the new Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare finds himself in an unenviable position. After his successful agitation for equal participation for civil society in the legislative exercise to create the first Lokpal at the Centre, people expect him to set high standards of probity for his team, even though it will have a short tenure (ending on June 30) and a limited agenda. Allegations casting aspersions on civil society members on the committee, even if they relate to the past, make them defensive and distract them from the committee's task.

Anna Hazare himself was prudent enough to ignore the allegation of financial impropriety against him. The Maharashtra government instituted a commission of inquiry under Justice P.B. Sawant in September 2003 to inquire into allegations of corruption and maladministration against a few State Ministers and Anna Hazare, who had led a campaign against them. The commission's report, submitted on February 22, 2005, concluded: “The expenditure of Rs.2.20 lacs from the funds of the Hind Swaraj Trust [a trust which Hazare runs] for the birthday celebrations of Shri Hajare was clearly illegal and amounted to a corrupt practice” (page 365).

Sections of the media highlighted this in the days after Hazare's recent campaign. But his close confidant, Swami Agnivesh, described this in a television programme as a mistake rather than an instance of corrupt practice; some observers considered it too technical to cast aspersions on Hazare's personal integrity. In 2005, Hazare had challenged the State government to take action on the report, but the government chose to ignore it. Hazare did not offer any fresh explanation on the subject after the recent campaign.