No flood relief

A report on the strike called by the Left trade unions for the protection of the rights of unorganised sector workers points out the UPA government8217;s...

An editorial in the latest issue of People8217;s Democracy points out bureaucratic delays affecting flood relief work in the country, saying 8220;such a massive natural disaster needs to be met by the combined effort and resources of the central government and the respective state governments. Though the National Disaster Management Authority had been formed by the previous NDA government, neither its mandate nor its resource allocation has been decided so far8230; state governments have been crying for relief while the central government is still assessing the situation to determine the quantity of resources that will be transferred. Such bureaucratic delays are adversely affecting the living conditions of people in the devastated areas8221;. It adds: 8220;while natural disasters may not be completely controlled and prevented, the manmade contribution towards such disasters must be eliminated8221;.

Inert media

In a strongly-worded article in People8217;s Democracy, CPM Central Secretariat Member Sreenivasa Rao blames the 8220;national media for its inertia8221; in covering the police firing incident in Andhra Pradesh which killed eight people, in comparison with the Nandigram incident.

He asks, 8220;is it because the Left parties are politically leading the movement? Whatever little information was given out on this incident was also not comprehensive. Half truths and unrelated events were peddled. For example, certain television channels had headlines stating 8220;firing took place on violent agitation8221;.

He goes on to add, 8220;It is really surprising that even though the movement for land was going on widely in the entire state of Andhra Pradesh for the past 100 days, it did not attract the national media8217;s attention. And this is the media which was agog at the Nandigram developments8230; the land struggle and the repression that followed had a statewide character in Andhra Pradesh whereas the Nandigram incident was a localised one.8221;

Unorganised workers

A report on the strike called by the Left trade unions for the protection of the rights of unorganised sector workers points out the UPA government8217;s failure in this regard. 8220;The NCMP commitment of enacting a comprehensive protective legislation for unorganised sector workers could not figure in the priority list of the UPA government for the three long years it has been in office8230; The deceitful game of the government stands exposed further by the fact that the government did not bother to consider even the recommendation of the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector NCEUS 8212; which it had appointed itself and which has already submitted its report to the prime minister on July 7 2007.8221;

Compiled by Jayanth Jacob