An august campaign

This is the festive season, but according to the CPIM there isn8217;t much for the 8220;vast majority of Indians8221; to celebrate because of the price rise. Politburo member Sitaram Yechury says in a front-page article in People8217;s Democracy that under the circumstances, all essential commodities should be distributed through fair price shops. Add to that the need for institutional credit for farmers. While this had doubled since the UPA government came to power, he says, it was 8220;good but not sufficient.8221; Rehabilitation packages announced by the prime minister and finance minister 8220;have not made any dent on the rise of farmers8217; suicides8221; because institutional credit was not made available interest free or at low interest to farmers nor guaranteed a minimum support price. Saying the high price of essential commodities was the result of futures trading that benefited traders who participate in the National Commodities and Derivative Exchange and not farmers, Yechury points out that because of the low price farmers got for their produce, the inability to repay the debt kept mounting leading ultimately to distress suicides.

Health pays

In 8216;Making the poor pay for Health8217;, economist Jayati Ghosh argues for greater public spending in health 8212; a key Left concern, but for the fact that the CPIM has in recent times focused more on foreign policy and economic issues. She says, 8220;from both the efficiency and equity grounds there is no alternative to the public provision of health care.8221; She points out that health expenditure in India was dominated by private spending and in recent years a greater portion of central and state expenditure in health had been towards salaries rather than health infrastructure. But government intervention in health was essential even from the point of creating suitable conditions for growth as better health conditions resulted in higher labour productivity. The government8217;s intervention was needed in the form of regulation because the interests of patients and healthcare providers were at variance. The regulations could be in licensing, limits on advertising and mandatory professional norms. Greater household expenditure on health that included rural households showing 8220;greater valuation8221; on health by even poor households, pointed to reduced access to reliable health care and higher user charges in government hospitals too. Ghosh says this has to change because 8220;health expenditures have been significant in causing or increasing the indebtedness of farmers.8221;

State within a state

The CPIM, that has its own model for the development of SEZs, has prepared a detailed response to the SEZ Rules of 2006 arguing that the constitution didn8217;t permit the formation of a state within a state, while rules in the present form 8220;apparently go towards this direction.8221; CITU secretary and former MP Dipankar Mukherjee8217;s letter to the Committee on Subordinate Legislation, published in People8217;s Democracy, says the rules permit ownership of land without any ceiling to developers, relax most of the fiscal and executive powers vested in the state by transferring them to development commissioners who are appointed by the state but have no defined accountability. Says Mukherjee, the rules as they are, go beyond the concept of a regulated fiscal regime to a self-contained privatised autonomous entity that was independent of the laws of the land. Referring to the SEZ Act, he says additional economic activity and employment opportunities couldn8217;t be generated if there was social unrest resulting from land acquisition. To avoid this, specific guidelines were required on the modalities for acquisition of land as well as grant of compensation and rehabilitation package for landowners and agricultural workers.

Compiled by Ananda Majumdar